


War Of Hearts

by ShadowPreacherx



Category: Ant-Man (Movies), Captain America (Movies), Doctor Strange (2016), Iron Man (Movies), Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Dad Stephen Strange, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Humor, IronStrange, IronStrange love story ft their Smol spiderson, M/M, Peter is their spider child, Peter just really loves his future fathers, Possibly Slowburn, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Stephen is willing to give him the universe, That's really it, Tony Stark deserves the universe, dad tony stark
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-17
Updated: 2018-10-07
Packaged: 2019-04-24 03:04:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 56,422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14346666
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShadowPreacherx/pseuds/ShadowPreacherx
Summary: "It's not the world that needs saving right now. It's you."Tony Stark had loved and lost. He had loved and was left alone. He had trusted and was betrayed. He had trusted and got his heart scarred.So the solution is obvious to him now. Don't trust. Don't love. Don't fall. Don't care. Don't be stupid. Not again.If only he hadn't stumbled upon a certain sorcerer and made those same mistakes all over again, everything would  have been so easy.**Also, Peter Parker went from zero father figure to two.





	1. The Strange Encounter of Peter Parker

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter Parker's day gets a little strange.

 

"Uhh.. Buddy, I don't think you're in the right place. Do you- Gah! Okay! Got it. Not a fan of talking."

In all of the ways Peter Parker could have anticipated this day going, fighting his way out from a 12 foot giant creature which looked like a messed up mash-up between an octopus and very strangely, a shark was most certainly not one of them.

Peter had no idea how the hell and where the hell the creature had appeared from. All he knew was that he was getting suited up in his usual alley and then suddenly he was ducking out of the way from a massive tentacle trying to squash him flat against the shady alley.

"No seriously, did you get lost on your way to the Atlantic?" Peter managed to get out from under it's huge head before swinging around two of the tentacles of the weird creature, making it get tangled in his webs.

"Because if so, then I can get you there. Only if you would cooperate a little instead of trying to squash me like a little spider."

This time, it- The thing, opened it's shark-like mouth filled with sharp teeth and shot something black from it's mouth towards Peter.

"Eww that's disgusting dude. You don't just randomly spit things at people!" Peter was now having an even more hard time because now he had to avoid not only the damned tentacles, but also the black oozy thing that the creature was not stopping to shower the place with. Good thing Peter was slippery.

  
"Peter, don't you think-"

  
"No, Karen. I forbid you to do that. My orders."

  
"But I really think-"

  
"I can handle this, okay? I don't need to bother him everytime a little pet project gone south escapes from it's hatch. Where did this thing come from anyway?"

  
"As far as I can tell, it materialized ten minutes ago just behind you through an interdimensional portal. It could be alien. I can't say for sure yet." Karen's voice was a little rueful as she counted not being able to identify this creature as her failure.

  
Peter let out an irritated huff and decided that he needed to get a little closer to it to shut it's disgusting mouth with his webbing.

  
"Aliens, man. They never stop trudging into this city, do they? It's getting very- Oh HOLY SHI-"

  
Peter stumbled in the air and landed hard on the pavement as the creature managed to hit him with the black goo on the right side of his abdomen and fuck, it stung horribly. Peter had thought that whatever the black thing could do, it most certainly could not get through his suit material and reach his skin. But he was proved very much wrong when he saw the red material of his suit sizzling and dissipating, all the while burning into his skin. Oh boy, Mr Stark was going to be pissed.

  
"Peter, your vitals are getting crazy and I can find traces of poison and anaesthetic in your bloodstream. I'm calling Mr Stark."

  
"No don't! Do not call Mr Stark." Peter was sure Tony had installed some other ways of getting all of Peter's situational updates, so forbidding Karen from informing him wasn't really gonna hold for much longer. But Peter didn't want Tony to think that he wasn't able to handle himself. He already created enough problems for Tony on a daily basis.

Peter had gotten up by now and it took him two more minutes to finish binding up the huge creature with his webbing. But as every second ticked away, he could feel himself slipping. From both consciousness and movement. It was like he was being paralyzed with a very poisonous substance. Judging by Karen's assessment, that was probably what had happened.

  
The creature was moving again and if Peter didn't find some way to permanently eliminate it, it would be up and running again. But for God's sake, he couldn't move. He ripped away the mask from his face as he had trouble breathing and inspected the wound which was nasty and clear as the suit was burned and dissipated around the entire area of his abdomen.

  
"This is not good. Not good at all." An unfamiliar voice went through Peter's hazy thoughts.

This voice was not the one Peter had been expecting at any moment. He was sure Tony was on his way to Peter by now but looked like someone else had reached Peter first. Looking up, Peter found himself face to face with a person in a very strange costume. The red cape flying behind him definitely caught his eye first. Also, this person had frighteningly similar facial hair to rival Tony Stark's. Wow. Could this day get any weirder?

  
"Karen, am I hallucinating a Mr Stark counterpart in a medieval play costume?"

  
"What? Oh the poison is already in your system. You're gonna have trouble holding onto consciousness. I need to-" The man was rudely interrupted by the creature who had managed to get three tentacles free from Peter's webbing.

  
"Excuse me for just a moment. I'll get right back to you." The man shot a half assuring  smile towards Peter and got up again.

  
Peter saw the man roll his eyes a little at the disgusting creature before he made some weird hand gestures and then suddenly glowing golden binds shot up and clawed their way around the creature. The man then made another circular motion and then some kind of invisible force seemed to suck the creature into the moving circle that looked very much like a portal.

Peter was 100% sure he was making up some fucked up fantasy story in his hallucinated mind.

"Okay let's sort you out. Can you stand?"

  
Peter noticed the man was talking to him actually. And another moving circular portal was shimmering behind him.

  
"Uh yeah. Thank you for uh, you know, vanishing that thing. I got it down but didn't know how to make it go back to wherever the fuck it came from and so-"

  
Peter trailed off at the amused look on the man's face. Shit. His secret identity was not so secret anymore now, was it? He had his mask off. Peter stepped back a little and waved clumsily at the man.

  
"Yeah so... I gotta go. Important stuff. That doesn't involve huge sharktopuses."

  
The man let out a deep chuckle at the name and Peter suddenly wondered if he really was dreaming up this guy or if it was actually real. But that thought didn't last long because he was stumbling on his own feet and his head was getting more and more lighter. Not to mention the horribly burning sensation on his abdomen.

  
"That's a rather interesting name you've given these vile creatures. I'm terribly sorry for not noticing that one of them had escaped the mirror dimension earlier." The man stepped closer to Peter and put a hand on his forehead. "I'm also sorry for this but I need to save your life first. So I can't let you go now."

  
"For wha-" Peter didn't get to finish his sentence because he suddenly fell into a peaceful slumber.

 

                                    •••

"If that was some elaborate plan of yours only to kidnap me, then dude, you made a hugeass mistake."

  
In hindsight, that wasn't the best thing Peter should've said to the man who had saved his life. In his defence, Peter didn't know that part of the story yet. So he was allowed to be salty after waking up in a huge, shady and almost empty gothic mansion with absurd symbols all over the place, his encounter with a giant unearthly creature still too fresh in his mind.

  
The man raised an amused eyebrow. "Was that supposed to be a threat?"

  
Peter groggily sat up on the ancient couch and peered down at his abdomen. It was covered with gauze and it didn't even hurt that much now. But he still felt kind of numbly exhausted. Must be because of the paralytic component.

  
"What, no. I mean, I'm not the best choice for kidnapping, you know. I only have an aunt who's fairly scary when angry. Otherwise she's just an average but super awesome woman in Queens. She's not even rich so you can't really dig there. But Mr Stark does say that she's exceptionally hot so not that average I guess." Peter kept rambling until the man stopped him.

   
"Relax. I only brought you here to treat your wound. Not to send ransom notes to your exceptionally hot aunt. That black goo you got sprayed with had a dangerous poison in it along with an intricate form of anasthetic. So I had to bring you here to get the proper ingredients and administer them to you."

  
He paused and looked pointedly at Peter's wound. "Though your fast metabolism has sped up the healing process a lot. You're almost as good as new again."

  
Peter was silent for a few moments. Unlike his character, yes. But all of this took him a little by surprise. This man had already seen his face, saved him from possible death and was actually likeable. Peter decided he owed this man at least something. Also, he was almost exploding with questions buzzing around his mind. Oh fuck it, he was never quite good with secret identities anyways.

  
"Uh.. I'm - I'm Peter by the way. "

  
The man looked down and took Peter's offered hand with a little quirk of his lips.  
"Doctor Strange."

  
Peter blinked. Oh. That's a very weird codename. But then the man himself looked unique. Still, who willingly chose Doctor Strange as a superhero codename?  
Oh wait. Was Peter supposed to use his codename? Damnit why wasn't there a manual for situations like this?

  
He quickly got himself together. "Oh so we're using our made up names? Then I am Spiderman."

  
Dr Strange quirked an eyebrow at Peter at first. And then shook his head a little.

  
"Yes, the very insconspicuous red and blue spandex didn't already give that away, did it?"

  
Peter stuttered and was likely to spew out some totally immature response but at that very moment, a sharp sound cut him off. Peter knew that sound and he also knew that he was undoubtedly very much screwed.

  
"Peter? Peter Benjamin Parker, if you don't answer me right this fucking second, I swear I will go straight to Aunt Hottie and make very sure of the fact that you never get out of that apartment of yours again as the friendly neighbourhood Spiderman."

  
Oh god, he was ranting. He had been worried. Yup, Peter was definitely gonna be steamrolled.

  
"Mr Stark! Hello!" Peter squeaked out, bringing his hand a little closer to himself, expecting Tony's voice to go up in stress any minute now.

  
"Oh thank God- Hello?!? Hello? Don't you "hello" me, young man. You've got a huge storm coming. Where have you been for the past two hours? You were supposed to be here with me two hours ago! And you never showed up and then Friday tells me about an injury And-and just- Are you hurt? Where are you?"

  
Tony's voice was equally panicked and strained and relieved. Peter felt immensely guilty for making him worry so much.

  
"He doesn't really know how to shut up, does he?" Dr Strange's mildly amused voice spoke up. He was looking at Peter's wristdevice with amusement from where currently the panicked voice of Tony Stark was floating out.

  
Peter focused on calming down the erratic genius. "I'm fine, Mr Stark! You don't have to worry at all. How did Friday even know about- Oh wait. Karen, you didn't."

  
"Yes she did." Tony remarked.

  
"Yes, I did." Karen didn't sound apologetic at all.

  
"But I asked you specifically not to do that!"

  
"You asked me specifically not to inform Mr Stark. Your order, however, did not stop me from informing Friday." Karen's cool voice really did not help Peter's case.

  
"Hey that's cheating! You know very well that telling something to Friday is the same thing as telling it straight to Mr Stark!" Peter sounded offended at this betrayal of his AI.

  
"Hey Kid, don't you dare berate my baby girls for doing their job. Besides, if these two were not in your life, you'd be fucked beyond imagination by now."

  
"You mean both of you would be, boss." Friday's voice piped up. "And that's 200 dollars to the Little Devils' college fund for swearing twice in the presence of Peter. In the span of one minute 40 seconds, if I may add."

  
"Yeah okay Fri, I'm stressed out of my mind here. Cut me some slack, will you? Also, we'll be discussing your sass at a later time. But let's get the spiderling back to the land of living first. Which brings me to my previous question. Where ARE you? And why can't I track you? It's like you disappeared in the middle of NY."

  
Peter glanced at Doctor Strange who was idly skimming through a book but clearly listening to their conversation. Peter still had so many questions about this guy that he couldn't even get his thoughts together. And he didn't even know how long he would be welcomed here.

  
"Um.. It's a.. A giant story. Literally. I'll be back at the compound in half an hour and tell you all about it. Gotta go!"

  
"Be careful kid don't-" Peter hung up and tried not to feel bad but it didn't really work.

  
"So... "

  
"So you know Tony Stark." Doctor Strange remarked nonchalantly.

  
Peter snorted. "Everyone knows Tony Stark. You can say that Tony Stark knows me. Surprisingly. All too well."

  
Peter was well aware that the interaction with Mr Stark just now was probably not normal to any person who wasn't actually related to Tony Stark but Strange didn't seem inclined to comment on it. He merely nodded and continued.

  
"I believe you have some questions. But I can only tell you that this place is protected by certain magic spells. Which is the reason you can't be tracked by technology while you're in here. It's only for the safety of the inhabitants here."

  
Peter once again looked around. " Yeah what IS this place? It looks ancient. You said magic spells. Is this like Hogwarts? Wait a minute." Peter turned his wide eyes at Strange. "Does that mean that you're a wizard?"

  
"A sorcerer." Strange seemed it very necessary to correct this mistake.

  
"Holy shit you're a wizard!" Peter jumped up.

  
Doctor Strange visibly gave up trying to explain it. Just like his name. It's not like he was gonna be spending time with the kid reguarly or something.

  
Meanwhile, Peter was losing it. "See, I knew wizards are real! So do you need magic wands to do your thing? Or is that only like a fashion accessory? Can you show me how to transform into a cool animal? You can do that, right? Wait, no. I wanna know about the teleportation thing first. That was super cool!"

  
Doctor Stephen Strange sighed loudly. This was gonna be a long day.

  
The red and gorgeous cape chose that exact moment to appear by his side and inspect Peter. Peter hadn't noticed that the Doctor didn't have the cape on his shoulders like the first time he saw until now. But Peter's jaw went slack at the sight of the cape inching towards him by itself and then waving a corner near the top as if it was judging and approving of Peter.

  
"What in the name of-"

  
"Oh yes. Spiderman, meet The Cloak of Levitation." Doctor Strange had an amused smirk on his face while assessing Peter's reaction to the Cloak.

  
Peter squeaked as the Cloak reached out to him and touched his cheek. Yeah, today was the weirdest day of his already abnormal life.

  
"Did you magic it to life?? Can you do that too? Make things spring to life or something?" Peter was still unsure if the Cloak was about to lash out suddenly at him and try to kill him or it was just curious towards a newcomer in it's vicinity.

  
Doctor Strange snapped his fingers lightly, making a pizza box appear in front of Peter and if Peter wasn't sure about this guy before, now he suddenly was.

  
"No. I can't give life to things. That's impossible. There are certain magical artifacts and you have to be ready to wield them. The Cloak is a sentient artifact. But it chooses it's master. Fortunately and surprisingly, it chose me." He had a soft smile playing on his lips.

  
"Well your sentient cape is certainly much more amazing than Thor's or Vision's cape, I'll give you that." Peter had snagged the pizza and was already on the fourth slice. Don't judge him, he just fought a 12 feet sharktopus.

  
"It's a Cloak."

  
But the Cloak seemed to sense his compliment and patted his cheeks appreciatively some more time before returning to it's owner.

  
After Peter had finished his pizza and Doctor Strange had managed to answer some of his questions as much as he could, he glanced at the large grandfather clock behind Peter.

  
"I believe you promised someone to be there in half an hour."

  
Peter jumped up and was mentally kicking himself for losing track of time. Tony was already so worked up because of him and here he was, being inconsiderate and irresponsible.

  
Doctor Strange did those circular hand gestures again and a glimmering portal appeared in front of them. He nodded towards it.

  
"Upstate, New York. The Avengers Compound is where you're going, right?"  
Peter nodded. He felt a great amount of fascination and gratefulness towards this man. But then, as far as Peter got to know, Doctor Strange was a very remarkable man, indeed.

  
"Uh Okay then. Thank you. You know, for saving my life and uh, for the pizza. And the-"

  
"The weird unbelievable experience that is magic?"

  
Peter beamed. "Yeah. Mr Stark is gonna flip when he finds out. It's gonna be a lot of fun."  
Peter hopped onto the portal and suddenly he could see the compound in the distance. He turned around as Doctor Strange hadn't closed the portal yet.

  
"Wow this portal thing is so cool! I mean, I wouldn't have to swing back forth all the way from Queens everyday if I had this."

  
Doctor Strange raised an eyebrow. "Yeah don't get lazy, Spiderman. Goodbye."

  
Peter called back. "Hey I still don't know where that gothic mansion of yours is! Can you give me the address?"

  
In return, Peter only got a mischievous smile and a challenging answer. "If you stumble upon that mansion some day, do swing by. Until then. And oh yes, one condition." Doctor Strange paused for probably a dramatic effect. "No googling."

  
The portal abruptly closed leaving only some sparks and Peter behind.

 

                                    •••

  
"A what?"

  
"A giant dimension hopping Sharktopus."

  
Tony Stark had been livid for the last three or so hours. Firstly, he had lost contact with Peter. The only last update he had gotten about Peter was that he was attacked and had bloody poison in his bloodstream. Tony had prepared himself to yell at Peter for not contacting him earlier and for putting himself in risk without any backup. Again.

  
What he didn't expect at all was a very excited Peter nearly crashing into him in his lab as he swung in and launching into a story consisting of an interdimensional creature which Peter so creatively named Sharktopus and apparently a strange magician with a living cape who called himself, quite fittingly, Strange. Doctor Strange, at that.

  
Tony pinched the space between his eyebrows. A headache was rearing it's way up again. Unsurprisingly, the source of it was Peter.

  
"So you're telling me that you got poisoned AND paralyzed by this.. Sharktopus, a failure of a name that one by the way, and then magic man just appeared out of nowhere and healed you?" Tony summarized from what he just heard.

 

Peter protested. "Not out of nowhere. He created a portal from the mirror dimension. He had captured all the sharktopuses in there but one managed to escape and got me. By accident." Peter had gotten all those information from the man himself.

 

Tony blinked. After all the shit that he'd been through, magic was not something that Tony couldn't believe. Sure, he knew magic existed and it made him immensely uncomfortable but he just didn't have any idea that someone with this kind of power had been roaming around New York without anyone noticing before. 

 

"And you're perfectly sure that he's not some evil wizard like Voldemort or something?" 

Peter scoffed. "What, no! He's actually very nice. He helped me. In fact...He's a lot like you!"

  
Now it was Tony's turn to scoff. "Yeah okay, kid. Just because you got through a chapter of a live action fantasy story, doesn't mean that you're off the hook for breaking protocol."

  
Peter spluttered. "But I was okay! I handled it perfectly! I got the creature down all by myself!"

  
"And in the process, got yourself poisoned and nearly killed. Seriously kid, why is it so hard to follow one simple rule? Don't get involved in dangerous situations that are out of your control without backup!"

  
"The Sharktopus literally appeared behind me out of thin air! How was I supposed to NOT get involved?"

  
"Well then you call ME! But no, instead, you stopped Karen from doing exactly that! What if this strange guy hadn't showed up on time? What if the poison had spread throughout your entire system? What if.... " Tony took a deep breath at that part. No. "You're a smart kid. You tell me how high the risks were."

  
Tony didn't mean to lose control. He really didn't. But damnit, this was Peter. And Tony knew with all his heart that he couldn't bear it if Peter was hurt in any way. He briefly wondered just how much this kid had managed to take most of the place in his battered heart.

  
Peter was silent for a few moments, sensing that Tony needed some time to cool off. He really hated to see Tony worrying about him this way and he tried, he tried so hard not to do that to Tony. But sometimes, it all spiralled out of his control.

  
"I'm sorry, Tony." Peter mumbled in a small voice. His gaze directed at his own sneakers. "But I can't- I can't sit just around in situations when I can do something about it. When I have the ability to do something good. You know how that works. I know that you do. So you just have to trust me to do my part."

  
Silence descended upon the room as Tony poked away on the Starkpad in front of him. Peter suspected he was actually getting anything done right this moment. It was more of an anchor for Tony who always liked to fidget with something.

  
"Look. I'm not good at this. And yes, I know how that feels. When something bad happens on your watch but you fail to stop it. You try so hard but still, in the end, if you can't stop it, it kills you inside." Tony had a glassy look over his eyes and suddenly Peter knew where this was coming from.

  
"And I completely support you on everything that you do, thinking it's good for the world. I won't ever stop you from doing something that's right. All I'm asking of you is that, be careful. Save lives but before you risk yours, think of the others in your life. They can't lose you. So just...Just don't give them a heart attack okay?"

  
Tony was avoiding looking at Peter and Peter was well aware that Tony Stark didn't do these talks. The thought made him determined to prove himself and reassure Tony. 

  
"Okay yeah. I can do that." Peter nodded desperately.

  
"Come here." As Peter approached Tony, he was suddenly being inspected by the scrutinizing eyes of Tony Stark.

  
"Friday, run scans on the kid. I don't trust whatever that unknown guy did with his.. magical shit on Peter. And you, sit still. No spidey shenanigans until I'm done with you."

  
Peter obliged as he was told. Tony ran various checkups on him, pulled out a whole body scan of him, argued severely with Friday about the possibilities of Peter still being in pain even when she confirmed Peter was alright.

An involuntary smile broke out on his face. Watching Tony fret over him only reminded him of how much this man took place in his life as a guardian angel. It felt almost like he had a.. A family. A father.

  
"What're you smiling at, kid?"  
Tony was scoffing at him. With a suspicious look in his eyes.

  
"Um no. Nothing. I'm not smiling. It's just my face. I don't know what it's doing. Or why it's doing that." Peter grinned more widely.

  
"Uh huh." There was no way Tony was buying this but he decided to let the kid off the hook for now. he had been through enough for one day.

  
"Well, Friday cleared you off so I guess we can officially send a thank you fruit basket to your Wizard buddy."

  
Peter perked up. "Yes! You have GOT to meet him. He's like, super duper smart and also cool in a quiet but sophisticated sort of way. And obviously there is the magic factor. It's awesome!"

  
Tony was not feeling kinda skeptical. Nope. He was a grown man and he didn't care at all if Peter started worshipping someone else as his idol. He had no right to be salty about someone looking after Peter, that's good, right?

  
Except, he didn't know a single thing about this guy and he wasn't gonna sit on his ass while Peter decided to become buddy buddy with an unidentified magic wielder.

  
So that evening when Peter had bid his goodbyes, Tony started his assessment.

"Friday, pull up everything you've got on the name Doctor Strange. I'm assuming you won't have much trouble finding a guy with such an incredibly subtle codename."

  
"Right away, Boss."

  
Only Tony had learnt within seconds that it was not so much of a codename really.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... This is my first ever fic. Tony Stark and Stephen Strange literally owns my whole life. So I'm trying to create a world where they're both finally find peace and happiness. With each other. 
> 
> They're the perfect couple and no-one can change my mind.   
> See you.


	2. Maybe This Is Where Our Story Begins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When two equally bright stars collide, there's bound to be some explosions and sparks involved.
> 
> *
> 
> When the man of science meets the man of magic, sparks fly. Literally.

 

The first time Tony Stark and Stephen Strange actually crossed paths, Manhattan was almost going up in flames. Again.

  
Stephen had always been the lone warrior type. Before starting his journey in med-school, his sister was his only companion. Even after gaining the title of the best neurosurgeon, loneliness had always been a constant in Stephen's life. He could be charming when needed, extremely charming at that, but his arrogant and flippant behaviour put him on people's negative side more often than not.

  
Then came Christine in his life as a blessing. The bond Stephen had with Christine was rare and very precious to him. He realized they were like each other's soulmates. But certainly not in the romantic way. They've been there, tried that, came to a mutual agreement that yes, they couldn't live without each other but they also were not meant to live for each other, together.

  
So apart from the angelic Christine, Stephen only ever truly had one other companion. Though he's pretty sure Wong wouldn't really like to fall into the category of an actual friend. Sure, the guy was an amazing and experienced sorcerer and he actually liked Stephen despite trying to prove otherwise. But Wong acted as more of a coworker since he only ever showed up for business. And to ban Stephen's ass from time and again from the library of Kamar-Taj for his unruly behaviour.

  
However, these days, Stephen involuntarily often found himself in the presence of a new companion. A friend. It was really new to him, given that this particular friend of his was only a teenager. A fifteen year old teenager. Though the teenager himself would argue that he was going to be sixteen in two months so might as well use that one from now on.

 

Peter Parker was an exceptionally smart kid who was back in Stephen's Sanctum the very next day of the Sharktopus incident (Yes, that's what they'd been calling it. If you wanna blame someone, blame the teenager).

  
Apparently Peter swung around looking for the symbols he saw that day in the Sanctum and it was fairly easy to find for someone with heightened senses who had also been living in that city since he was born. Not to mention the privilege of being able to literally swing around the whole city.

  
Peter was undoubtedly an overly animated human being and Stephen couldn't bring himself to not like the Spidey's presence. There was just something loveable about the boy. Maybe everything. If he was being truthful to himself, Peter had taken place in the top three most important people of his life within the last few weeks. He had no idea how did that happen.

  
So it was really no surprise when Spiderman swung into his view, kicking away two of the demons on his way to Stephen. No, it wasn't surprise but what Stephen felt at that moment was a tug of deep concern. For Peter.

  
Yes, Manhattan was in chaos. And it was all because of the countless demons that now swarmed the streets of the city. Stephen had sensed strong dark magic prior to this attack and proving to be the lone wolf that he is, he only sent a message to Wong before stepping into this battle all by himself.

  
In hindsight, it had been a horrible decision. Wong repeatedly reminded him that Stephen had yet to learn like, 3/4th of the mysteries of the mystic arts. Well, Wong was never wrong.

  
"So what're these freaky dudes called in your mystical magic language?" Peter yelled.

  
"Just demons." Stephen replied too nonchalantly while he cast another intricate spell, watching as the demons surrounding him flew back and disappeared instantly. Only a blue glow remaining where the spell had been cast.

  
Stephen could actually hear the way Peter faltered at his reply.

  
"Um okay. Okay yeah. That makes perfect sense. We're-" Peter dodged just in time as a demon literally breathed fire at him. "-Ugh...So we're fighting demons today! Fire breathing demons? Never a dull day here, is it?"

  
Stephen would reply to Peter. He would've asked Peter about that biology quiz he had today. He would tell Peter about the plan he thought of hoarding all the demons into one place with trick and banishing them back to their realm. But before he could do any of that, he spotted something. Something that made him stop in his tracks. Or rather someone.

  
Mordo.

  
Stephen was so shocked to see Mordo up on a high-rise building, just standing there and observing as if... As if he was assessing his own handiwork. And just like that, suddenly Stephen knew who was behind all of it.

  
He had never been so happy to see Wong in his life as the librarian stepped into the chaotic street through a portal.

  
"Wong! Look after him! I need to take care of something." Stephen only vaguely pointed at Peter and took off towards Mordo at once, trusting Wong fully.

  
"For someone on a murder spree, you look well."

  
Stephen stood three feet away from the man who was once almost like a friend to him.  
Mordo didn't react to his comment, however. Instead, he chose to wave his hand, putting Stephen on alert.

  
"Karl, listen to me. What you're doing is madness. This- this is dark magic. You just put innocent lives on the line and for what reason exactly?"

  
"Oh, yes. The demons. You see, that was rather necessary." Mordo now had a manic grin on his face. "But I don't want those lives. What I do want, is yours."

  
Two things happened at once. Stephen put up a shield infront of himself just as Mordo threw a sword at him which he had just conjured. What Stephen didn't anticipate was the blow of a spell that came from behind him and suddenly he could feel a major loss.

  
The Cloak of Levitation was now hovering infront of him instead of on his shoulders. It was thrashing inside a purple containment circle in vain.

  
"Interesting artifact, this one. Such a pity it only chooses it's owner itself and serves only him. I could've used it."

  
This voice belonged to another person who descended from the air and took place beside Mordo. Stephen didn't recognize him.

  
"Who the hell are you?"

  
"Oh, my apologies. My father calls me Blackheart. Though I don't assume I actually have one of those to begin with." This new guy was even more of a maniac than Mordo, Stephen decided.

  
"I'm afraid you're not exactly familiar with biology in that case. Also, I'm sure your father didn't intend that name to come true someday." Stephen countered, his voice unwavering.

  
Blackheart made a noise that couldn't exactly be noted as a chuckle. "Oh no, he totally did." He then pointed at the Cloak that was still trying it's best to get out of the magical containment. "Do you mind? It's bothering me."

  
He snapped his fingers and the circle containing the Cloak rolled down the roof. Stephen made a move towards it but stopped when both of the crazy sorcerers attacked him at once.

  
Stephen had gotten extremely better with his magic. He used spells after spells that kept both of the sorcerers constantly on their toes. Mordo had slowed down a lot due to Stephen's attacks. But this Blackheart guy seemed to have dark magic embedded into him. The force of it was beyond Stephen's comprehension. By the time the two stopped, Stephen was at the edge of the roof, heaving for air, several cuts adorning his face but still fighting away.

  
"You tamper with something that you cannot control, Stephen." Mordo said. "And if you keep doing that, then one day, the consequences will come. I cannot let you do that."

  
Stephen panted heavily, trying to catch his breath. "So what now? You're gonna kill me with the help of this new buddy of yours? Is that it?"

  
"No, he is not going to kill you." Blackheart spoke, casting a powerful binding spell towards Stephen. Stephen instantly recognized the spell freezing his whole body. But that's not the worst of it. It also froze his mind somewhat. "I am."

  
Stephen toppled over the edge of the roof.

  
_Okay. Okay this is bad_. Stephen tried to teleport but the binding spell was blocking his entire being from performing magic. This never happened. He then started to try and get free by enchanting the spells to undo his binding so that he could finally get his magic to work and stop his fall. But it was taking too long to affect the dark magic. Damn it, if only Wong wasn't busy fighting the demons and the Cloak wasn't out of the picture.

  
Stephen could see the pavement getting closer and closer while his body was getting rid of Blackheart's dark binding spell because of his muttered strong counterspell.

  
The moment his mind became completely free of Blackheart's spell and he raised his hand to cast a hovering spell to slow down his descent, he felt the wind rushing towards him from a new direction and the cold feeling of metal against his skin.

  
_Okay what?_

  
It wasn't like Stephen wasn't expecting to see something red somehow catching him from midair, considering that he had a companion in the scene who radiated that colour, even if you don't count the Cloak. It's just the fact that he expected it to be someone who liked to choose red and blue as his colour scheme, not red and gold. And certainly not metallic.

  
So it really wasn't in Stephen's control when he groaned.

  
"Oh no. It's you."

  
Iron Man's blank faceplate stared back at Stephen who was currently being set down onto the ground absolutely unnecessarily.

  
"Uh, you're welcome doctor. You know, for stopping you from going splat on a Manhattan street. That wouldn't have been a pretty sight."

The voice carried through the metal face plate of the suit but no one would miss the amusement seeping into the voice. "Also, that would ruin _this_ pretty sight."

  
Stephen scoffed. _Is he seriously doing what I think he's doing?_ Nevertheless, he gathered himself and started to survey the situation. His head was already throbbing from some cuts and he really didn't need anymore troubles.

  
"I had it under control, Mr Stark."

  
"Oh yeah?" The faceplate slid up, revealing Tony Stark with a raised eyebrow. "Is that why you were diving headfirst to the ground with a 90m/s velocity, Doctor Strange?"

  
Stephen looked back at him and found himself looking into a pair of huge chocolate brown eyes. He raised an eyebrow of his own.

"Did your research, didn't you? Wasn't expecting to be on Tony Stark's curiosity radar. What intrigued you? The brilliant success or the stupid accident?"

  
Tony blinked. "Well, now that I know, both intrigues me. But for starters, the kid did."

  
As if on cue, Peter swung his way between the two men, landing perfectly with a flourish.

  
"Hey! In case you guys didn't notice, the city is kinda on fire. And hellish demons are reaaally not something I had been expecting on a Sunday." Peter then turned towards Tony. "Mr Stark! This is the Doctor Strange! He's cool, isn't he?"

  
"Swan diving from high altitude is cool? No wonder Rogers tries to do it all the time."

  
" _The_ Doctor Strange?! How many times do I have to tell you it's not a made up name."

  
Peter paused for a moment, taking in both of their responses as they spoke up at the same time. And then he grinned. Not that the two adults could see that because of his mask.

  
Tony and Stephen now turned to each other once again.

  
"Between the two of us, I think it's you that could be officially labelled as the swan diver." Stephen almost huffed. Almost. But he didn't. Because he wasn't a child.

  
Tony actually did huff. "Well, excuse you but what's the point of creating a flying suit of armour if I don't dive down from random high places? You doctors are so boring."

  
"Oh I don't know, saving lives, defeating the evil?"

  
"That's the responsible part. I'm talking about the fun part here, Hermione."

  
Peter was contemplating whether or not he should remind these two about the demonic creatures raising hell (pun intended) a few blocks away or just slide away and go back to wrestle the demons without drawing attention from either of them.

  
But all his hope was lost when Tony literally dragged him into the conversation. "Peter agrees with me!"

"Um.. "

  
"That's because the boy literally has the instincts of a spider." Stephen retaliated.

  
"Doesn't go against my point." Tony smirked.

  
A demon had the horribly idiotic idea of coming their way in that moment and so it simultaneously got stabbed by a conjured time shard and fried by a repulser beam before exploding into sparkly golden pieces. Both of the geniuses had acted at the same time without even moving an inch from their spot or actually looking up at the demon, away from each other's challenging eyes. They had simply raised their hands at the demon and did their own thing.

  
Peter was beyond amused. _Show offs_.

  
The demon's flashy disappearance and the fact that the golden sparks were raining down around them made Tony look around thoughtfully. "Sparkly. You ever considered to put on a fireworks show or something? Because that'd be thrilling."

  
"I'd be very thrilled too if demons weren't trying to knock down the entire Empire State Building, you know." Peter chirped from his place, before Stephen could respond again.

  
Both of the men with strikingly similar facial hair suddenly seemed to realize the situation all over again. Stephen once again got into the serious Master of the Mystic Arts mode.

  
"I need to find out why I can't send these demons to the mirror dimension-"

  
"Uh, the what?"

  
Stephen rolled his eyes. Right. Tony Stark, the tech savvy genius, the man of science, would obviously be skeptical about this type of magic. Not that Stephen had forgotten his own reaction to magic the very first time. He was a man of science himself. That part of him still existed inside him. There was just a completely new quite magical side to him.

  
"The mirror dimension. It's very much like ours except nothing done there will affect our real world. So it is imperative that I-"

  
"It was a tethering spell."

  
It was Wong. The chaotic noises had died down a lot, now that they noticed. Stephen visibly relaxed.

  
"Wong! It's Mordo. He's trying to-"

  
"I know what he's doing." Wong sent a dismissive look towards Stephen. "I broke the spell that Mordo cast to tether them to this dimension and sent them to the mirror dimension. They can't get out of there on their own. So if you're done making friends, you might want to finish this up."

  
"That was very helpful of you but I'm not making friends. He's just-"

  
"I don't know if that's like some inside code language between you magicians but there's other people present-"

  
Stephen and Tony spoke up at the same time. Again. Peter whistled.

  
"Wow that's freaky. You guys did it again."

  
"Did what?" They both chorused. At the same time. Peter downright laughed while Tony and Stephen just threw each other annoyed looks.

  
Something red whooshed past Tony, very rudely pushing him out of the way, making him tense up and aimed itself straight towards Stephen. But it's not Stephen who reacted first seeing the Cloak of Levitation. It was Peter.

  
"Cloaky! You're back!" Peter shot a questioning glance towards Stephen. "Why did Cloaky leave you alone?"

  
Stephen gave the Cloak an once over to check if it was alright. "Blackheart used dark magic to contain it and threw it down the roof."

  
"Oh so just like he did with you?" Tony asked.

  
Stephen squinted at him. "I told you, I was not going to hit the pavement. You could've seen that too if only you hadn't felt the urge to swoop in. I'm the Master of the Mystic Arts, for god's sake."

  
Tony made a disbelieving noise. "And how were you planning to do that? By summoning a magic broom to yourself? Because by the looks of it, I'm sure that you can't fly."

  
Peter perked up. "Oh no. He can fly."

  
"I don't fly. I levitate." Stephen protested.

  
Tony snorted. "That's even more boring."

Stephen wisely chose not to respond to Tony this time. He instead focused on the Cloak that was now inspecting Peter. "But I don't understand. How did you break free of his spell?"

  
"I think, I might have helped a little."

  
Vision was descending from the air, his cape flying behind him. Peter suddenly snickered thinking about how everyone here had a knack for a dramatic entrance. Wong had disappeared again who knows when.

  
Stephen just sighed. There comes another one. He didn't even have any clue who this one was.

  
"Yeah well. That's Vision. He literally phases through everything in existence so I'm guessing magic containers fall in that category too." Tony said distractedly. His gaze was fixed on the object of the topic.

  
"But isn't anyone going to comment on the fact that the red cape of weirdness is smothering my s- my protégé?"

  
Not exactly. The Cloak was only rubbing Peter's cheeks affectionately the way sometimes adults did with babies.

  
Stephen pressed his lips together. _The real question is, is nobody gonna point out the fact that Tony almost called Peter his son?_ Not even Peter himself seemed to notice.

  
Peter exclaimed. "What, it likes me!"

  
"Uh-huh," Tony scoffed. "Well I don't like it liking you so much. It's creepy."

  
The Cloak raised it's lower part towards Tony upto his face level and made a gesture that looked very much like hissing. Tony sent the Cloak an even more grumpy look.

  
"See, that's very unsettling. Do you train this thing to hiss at people on your behalf, Strange?

  
"It doesn't -"

  
"Thank you for your assistance." Stephen intervened. He had a feeling that they would just stand around and bicker all day long if given the chance. On the other hand, Wong just might curse Stephen to obvilion if he got pissed. "But I need to finish this."

 

He shot his hand forward, the air ahead cracking at once like pieces of glass, materializing the doorway to the mirror dimension.

  
"Wait a second. Where do you think you're going alone?"

  
Of course Tony had to interrupt. Again.

  
"This is not your fight, Mr Stark." Stephen watched as the previous slightly amused and curious look disappeared from Tony's face. Instead, his eyes now only portrayed challenge and determination.

  
"It is my fight as well from the moment these things' presence started threatening people's lives under my watch." Tony firmly said.

  
"This is not some ordinary villain of the week. The Avengers are not equipped or prepared to deal with mystical threats yet."

  
Tony's helmet snapped shut. The modulated voice carried out. "Well then, it's high time we did something to fix that, don't you think?"

  
"This is ridiculous. I can do this alone. Why would-"

  
"I'm. Coming. With."

  
Immensely stubborn. Stephen frowned. He should've known. The Cloak seemed to observe the tension in the air, as it was fidgeting on Stephen's shoulders. Still not particularly showing Iron Man much regard.

  
"Oh yes! This is gonna be so much fun!"

Peter attempted to jump towards the crack in the air, before simultaneously a gauntlet caught a hold of his arm from his side and another tall figure blocked his path forward.

  
"Seriously guys?" Peter groaned at the two men's over protective instincts. "This is not cool."

  
"Oh no, you're staying here with Vision. These people are panicked. They need you." Tony said with finality clear in his voice.

  
"But I wanted to see this place so much!"

  
"We're going to banish a hoard of demons, not to take a tour around." Stephen patted on Peter's shoulder. "I'll show you around the next time you visit. Now go."

  
Peter mumbled disgruntledly but obliged, Vision following him closely behind.

  
"Alright, let's go blow up some demons like fireworks. Lead the way, Doctor."

  
Stephen suddenly decided he liked the way Tony called him Doctor. The very next thought his mind had was, _What the fuck._

 

  
                                      **

 

"I hate magic."

  
"Mmhm. You've mentioned that. Several times."

  
"None of it even makes any sense!"

  
Stephen was watching Tony who was currently jumping in front of moving cars and watching them go straight through him with fascination.

  
They were inside the mirror dimension. There were no signs of the threats they were here to deal with because- well, it didn't even take Iron Man and Doctor Strange ten minutes to deal with it.

  
"For someone who claims to hate magic, you seem to quite enjoy it." Stephen remarked.

  
"That's because I tend to enjoy majorly fucked up things."

Tony now apparently decided to test if he could draw the attention of the people in the physical world whose mirrored images could be seen in here. He even went as far as to poke Vision's refracted image on the cheek and then went ahead to pull on his cape.

  
Stephen should probably get back to the Sanctum and talk to Wong about all that happened. But for some reason, he stayed behind. 

  
"Are you certain that you're not only saying that because I took care of the demons before you could?" Stephen crossed his arms, leaning against a lamppost by the side of the road.

  
Tony stopped tugging on the windows of a taco stand and turned to shoot a glare at Stephen.

"Haha. For the record, you literally crouched like a comic book superhero and struck your hands onto the ground after doing an extensive jazz hand thingy and just vaporized those ugly bastards. How does that make sense?"

  
"I'm not quite sure whether you're complaining or letting me know that you're impressed, Mr Stark."

Stephen had the urge to smirk but he kept a very neutral face. He was quite good at those.

  
Tony tilted his head, watching Stephen.

"Depends. Are you trying to impress me?"

  
"Depends. Are you impressed?"

  
A moment passed before Tony sent an amused look at Stephen and turned away as something else caught his attention.

  
"Hey, it's Peter!"

  
Peter, still in the physical world, was kneeling down in front of a little girl of about 6 years who was crying hysterically on the sidewalk. Peter kept talking to her gently and gradually, she seemed to calm down a lot. Peter gave her a hug and then stood up with the girl's hand grasped in his.

  
"Do you think you can give me a smile? Maybe that would light up this place and we will find your mom very very easily, okay?" Peter said to the girl who nodded and then offered him a huge smile.

  
"You're cute, Spiderman." The girl giggled.

  
"How would you know that? I could be like a super scary dude inside this mask." Peter replied lightheartedly.

  
The girl shook her head vigorously. "No, you're so nice. And your voice is so adorable. I know that you're cute. I can tell these things easily."

  
"Then that must be one of the superpowers you have, huh?"

  
Tony knew that Peter couldn't see him or even had any idea that Tony was watching him. But even then, when Peter passed by where Tony had been standing and listening, Tony couldn't help but attempt to ruffle the boy's hair affectionately.

  
When Tony turned around, his eyes caught the ones of the sorcerer who was observing the scene silently. Tony cleared his throat. His own eyes still held the soft look of admiration for Peter.

  
"He's a great kid."

  
Stephen straightened up and glanced towards the way Peter went, the little girl by his side.

  
"Even better. He's a good one."

  
Stephen could see Tony raise his head a little and look at him. For the first time in this whole mess, Stephen felt like Tony was actually trying to see him instead of just exchanging quips or trying to prove him wrong. But Stephen couldn't understand why that made him want to hide.

  
"I have a feeling I'll see you around, Stark."

  
Tony blinked and the assessing look from a moment ago disappeared behind a half-smirk. "That's unfortunate. Is this the part where you disappear in a puff of smoke, Magic Man?"

  
Stephen smirked. "If that's what you really want."

  
The next moment Tony found himself back on the same pavement they had entered the mirror dimension from, the buzz of the real world around him. Strange was nowhere to be seen but Tony could clearly see the remainder of smoke dispersing just in front of him where the sorcerer had been a moment ago.

  
"What a smug asshole." Tony muttered to himself, shaking off the disoriented feeling that teleportation left on him.

  
"I hate magic."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, that happened. I'm sorry if I didn't get any of characters right.... 
> 
>  
> 
> So the timeline of this story goes like this-
> 
> The first chapter of this story is set a few days after Spiderman:Homecoming.
> 
> I'm going to stick to the idea that Infinity War happens 3 years after Civil War. So this story will be about how Tony and Stephen's relationship progress in this 3 years.  
> Whew we've got a long way to go.


	3. See You Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stephen Strange is really hot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To everyone who's reading this, leaving kudos, commenting such nice things, I thank ALL of you from the bottom of my heart. You can't imagine how happy it makes me. Love you guys.

 

"I'm telling you I'm okay-"

  
"When will you start listening to me Tony-"

  
"It's because I probably just slept the wrong way. Stop making a fuss about it-"

  
"You expect me to believe that bullshit? Are you even sleeping? Friday, give me this week's update."

  
"13 hours in the last seven-" Friday's voice piped up.

  
"Okay you know what. Mute, Fri." Friday went silent as Tony huffed. "You're supposed to be on vacation, Rhodeybear. Why are you mother henning me when you could be sipping margaritas on a sunny beach?"

  
Rhodes rolled his eyes on the holographic screen hovering in front of Tony. "Because mother henning you has been the single constant and most important job I've ever had since you were 16, Tony."

  
"Exactly." Tony waved his hand to prove some sort of point. "That's what I'm telling you. You gotta stop worrying about me 24/7 and just get on with your life finally. Let go of your motherly instincts, Rhodey."

  
_Because if I wasn't here to drag you down, your life wouldn't have been ruined._

  
"You know damn well that I only agreed to come here because you promised you were not going to do something reckless again. Not until I get back." Rhodes started massaging his temples.

  
Tony discreetly attempted to swipe some totally _not_ reckless plans off the desk, "And I didn't."

  
Rhodes fixed his eyes straight onto Tony. Tony felt very much intimidated even though the person on the other end was literally thousands of miles away.

  
"I know your heart's getting worse." Rhodes stated, making Tony freeze. "And I really didn't want to do this right now, but Tony, you have to stop this. You're spiraling out of control again and I can't watch that happen."

  
"You don't have to. I'm fine."

  
Tony didn't look up at the screen, instead choosing to drink some awful concoction Dum-E had  cooked up. He was mostly sure Dum-E hadn't followed the instructions Tony showed him, but frankly, Tony wasn't in the slightest mindset to care about that.

  
"Tony! You have to get a professional to have a look at you." Rhodes stressed.

  
"I am a professional."

  
"Not when it comes to your organs, or your health, no you're not."

  
Tony huffed. "You're really selling my geniusness short here. That comment was hurtful. And incorrect."

  
"I'm serious, Tony. Either do it or I'll catch the next flight to do it myself."

  
Rhodes's voice held no hesitation and Tony knew that Rhodey really would fly all the way from California just to drag Tony's ass to an actual doctor in order to check out his heart.

  
"Fine! I'll offer some random doctor a look at my heart if I do remember." Tony frowned. He was totally not going to do that.

  
"Now can you please tell me about the complications that I wanted to know about like, forever ago?"

  
Tony had done everything he could about Rhodes's prosthetic gear. He kept finding new upgrades to add and ways to make it even more better than it already needed to be. Rhodes would constantly argue that it was already perfect but Tony wouldn't listen.

  
He wouldn't listen because he believed he did this to Rhodey.

  
_I destroyed his life. Just like I destroy everything I touch._

  
He had consulted all the best doctors for Rhodes in hopes of a possible miracle to give Rhodes back what Tony believed he had taken from him. But Tony refused to do the same for his rapidly worsening heart.

  
The surgery to remove the shrapnel had been supposedly successful but Tony knew from the constant pain on his left side and several scans, that his heart had been getting worse since then. Turned out, having literal holes and shrapnels inside your heart for years and keeping your heart from stopping with technology had it's strains. And no amount of surgeries were enough to salvage what was already gone of his heart.

  
So Tony didn't even try to go that way. He was sure he would need to use the arc reactor for running his heart again. Whether he would survive another implantation in his chest or not was the question and Tony wasn't ready for people to start asking that one question yet. Because he himself didn't know.

  
Yes, he knew the percentage because that was math and the percentage barely touched second digits.

  
Maybe this time he could finally let go.

  
In moments like this, the universe decided to let him know that he couldn't.

  
Dum-E nudged Tony's elbow to get his attention and then proceeded to hold up a blue scribbled notebook to him.

  
Tony instantly recognized the thing and his face automatically split into a smile. Peter left it here. They had been brainstorming the ideas for Peter's next big physics project yesterday and Tony was actually so proud of the kid because damn, the boy had lots of majorly brilliant ideas and he didn't even need Tony's help with any of it. Tony suspected Peter just came here everyday to hangout with Tony rather than actually needing Tony's help with his school. The kid was too smart for that anyways.

  
"Dum-E, don't spill motor oil on Spidey's project schemes. Give me that." Tony flipped through the notebook, glancing at Peter's familiar scribbles and mechanical drawings in every page.

  
"Why did he even leave this here? This place could go up in flames any minute considering it's my lab and he knows that."

  
"I think Peter doesn't even realize that he leaves his stuff here anymore. For the record Boss, this has unofficially become both yours _and_ Peter's lab at this point." Friday spoke up.

  
Now that Tony took the time to actually look around and register things instead of being neck deep in his own work, the sight of the lab actually surprised him. There was a full on mini chem workshop set up at one corner of the lab. The desk was filled up with chemical ingredients, remnants of Peter's webs, some fully developed, some halfway finished. Various models of webshooters that Peter was creating himself was gathered in one corner. A stack of papers full of equations was sitting on a Star Wars bag. Two hoodies that were certainly not Tony's possessions were draped over the couch Tony had put in his lab for Peter. 

  
"Oh shit." Tony breathed. He had been working among all of these before as well but it never occurred to him that Peter had integrated in every aspect of his life now.

  
"Fri.. This is.. He's everywhere. Why... Am I freaking out about this?"

  
"Maybe because you now realize that Peter considers you as a fa-"

  
"Okay no no. I need a drink." Tony paused. "Yeah right, no drinking. Coffee. I need coffee. Lots of coffee."

  
                                       ***

  
Running into a person upon entering a room might've been explainable afterwards but running face first into a piece of moving clothing was in no way something that anyone on earth would've expected. Let alone being low-key slapped by that thing.

  
But apparently this was Tony's life. He literally had to wrestle with the red thing that was currently attempting to wrap itself around Tony forcibly and steer him back out of the door that he had come in a moment ago.

  
"The actual fuck is wrong with this thing?!? Get off me!" Tony swatted the red Cloak away which he had clearly recognized. A sentient cloak that also apparently hated him wasn't that easy to forget.

  
The Cloak barely let Tony go, still hovering beside him with a pouty air around it. Tony swore if the Cloak had eyes, it would've been boring holes into Tony's skull by now with that excessive glaring vibe.

  
"Friday, why is Doctor Douchebag chilling on my couch?"

  
Strangely enough, Stephen Strange was indeed sitting on the couch of the Compound's living room with a huge book on his lap and a look of indifference on his face. Although, judging by the mirth playing in his eyes, he had been watching the Cloak's antics on Tony but didn't exactly choose to do anything about it.

  
"Stark. Told you I'd see you again."

  
Tony frowned. "Oh great. You're a prophet. But I didn't realize seeing me would involve voodooing yourself inside the compound. That's not approved. By me. Or anyone else really. "

  
Strange snorted. "Not particularly pleased to meet you too."

  
"Tell me you did not just portal into the Avengers Compound."

  
"I did not just portal into the Avengers Compound." Strange paused for a moment and then added, "I portalled outside."

  
Tony walked across the living room towards the kitchen counter, going straight for his life saver machine. He had come up from his workshop in desperate need of coffee in order to escape his own mental troubles, only to walk into another embodiment of craziness.

  
"And then you just walked in here? Friday would've alerted me of your unauthorized presence - Wait, did you magic hack into my AI? Fri, he didn't contaminate you with his glowy absurdity, did he?"

  
"That would be a no, Boss."

  
"Are you always this paranoid or just when you're sleep deprived out of your mind?" Strange was now standing up, facing the kitchen. His eyes fixed on Tony.

  
Tony crossed his arms defensively. "You can't just break into or poof into or whatever shit you did into my house and expect me not to-" Tony blinked. "Wait, how did you know about the sleep thing?"

  
Strange walked over to the opposite side of the counter and snapped his fingers. Tony suddenly found a steaming mug of coffee clutched in his hands and glanced confusedly over at the coffee machine which wasn't yet done making the coffee.

  
"Breaks into my house and shows off. Asshole." Tony muttered into the mug, sniffing the coffee Strange had apparently summoned into his hand.

  
"One. I did not break into your high security house though I could. It's painfully easy." Strange pointedly smirked. "Two. I'm a doctor. I know how a person who hasn't been sleeping or eating looks like."

  
"You sure know how to flatter a man, Doc." Tony grimaced. He figured he didn't look that flattering in his ancient ratty jeans and greasy tank top that's been his attire for the last three or so days. He forgot.

  
"Glad I got the message across." Strange retorted.

  
"I thought you were a glorified too-important-for-ordinary-cases Neurosurgeon. Strange that you'd spare a thought in such teeny weeny matters." Tony commented on Strange's previous remark.

  
"Oh please, it doesn't take several PhD's to know that. Your pupils are dilated and can't focus on one thing for long meaning you've been living off of only caffeine for at least three days. And if you're consuming so much caffeine it's only to keep you awake for an extensive period of time. Which leads me to two conclusions. Either you can't sleep or you're choosing not to sleep for some reason. Not to mention the exhaustion, the paranoia and those bloodshot eyes so it's obvious really."

  
Tony looked up and studied Stephen Strange's face for a moment. This never happened except with Pepper or Rhodey. He could be half dead from sleep deprivation or starving to the point of unconsciousness but the people around him almost never noticed. Why would Strange- Tony shook his head. The man was a doctor. It was what he naturally did.

  
"Perfect deduction, Doc."

  
Tony took an experimental sip of the coffee, no longer being able to resist the heavenly aroma. "If you put some magical potion inside this thing, you're gonna have a very pissed off little bug hero after you."

  
Strange quirked an eyebrow. "The spider? Oh I don't know, he surprisingly seems to quite favour me."

  
Tony scoffed. "Yeah, no kidding. I don't know what he sees in such a smug narcissistic jackass."

  
Strange leaned over the counter a little and sent a triumphant look towards Tony.

  
"Good to know you know that about yourself, Mr Stark."

  
Tony squinted in defiance and glared closely at Strange's annoyingly pretty face.

  
"You have a lot of nerve showing up here and continuing to be an annoying asshole, Strange."

  
Strange didn't falter or even acknowledge Tony's burning glare at such a close proximity. Instead, he put on a challenging look on his face and replied, "What can I say? I live to please."

  
The two men didn't seem very inclined to look away from each other's burning glares. The kitchen counter was the only thing keeping them apart but that didn't stop either of them from leaning over it and staring each other down. They seemed to gravitate towards each other while bickering exactly like the first and last time they had met and neither of them even noticed. Unfortunately, someone else did.

  
"Sorry not sorry if I'm interuppting anything. Am I interrupting anything?"

  
Hope Van Dyne stood in the doorway with her arms crossed over and an inquisitive look in her eyes.

  
"The only thing you're interuppting is the birth of a massive stare-off contest which clearly I would win anyday if Mr Wizard here doesn't resort to his magical bullshit." Tony spoke up, his attention snapping to Hope.

  
"It's Doctor." Strange corrected. "And I'll take you up on that challenge anyday, Stark."

  
Tony faked a gasp. "My mistake. Hope, this is Doctor Wizard, weird former Hogwarts dweller." Strange sent an unimpressed look at Tony for this. "And Doc, this is The Wasp. For the record, when I mentioned a pissed off  _little_  bug hero earlier, I actually meant this one right here."

  
Hope had turned up in the Avengers compound exactly four days after... after everything broke down. After Siberia. She had been calm, collected and to the point. She worked with Tony in order to set the Accords right and then decided to join the Avengers because unexpectedly, she found a friend.

Tony liked her from the get go because let's face it, she was a badass with a strong personality and killer fighting as well as strategic skills and soon Hope had become a good friend to Tony. Though Hank Pym disapproved of this action of his daughter, he only sent Tony some very seriously threatening e-mails and left it at that.

  
Tony found out about Scott and upon asking, she had replied with a calm voice, "He dug his own grave on that one. I want him to learn a lesson. Leave him be."

  
But Tony did not leave him be. Because now that he knew about Scott's involvement without him having any clues and then about Cassie, Tony just couldn't leave him be. So he spent a whole week running from one UN meeting in a country to another to twerk the Accords and convince all of them to let Scott come home. And of course Tony succeeded.

  
Currently, Hope rolled her eyes and made her way towards the couch. She passed the floating Cloak on her way and assessed it curiously for a moment before nodding towards Stephen with a smile.

  
"Doctor Strange. So glad that you could make it."

  
"Pleased to finally meet you, Miss Van Dyne."

  
Tony made an offended noise. Whether that was because of Stephen's complete change of manner towards Hope or the unexpected fact that they actually had been aware of each other beforehand. And Hope was _smiling_ at Stephen. _W_ _hat._

  
"Why do you two know each other?"

  
"No thanks to your very effective introduction, Tony. That was tremendously helpful." Hope deadpanned.

  
Strange joined in. "I just walked in the compound without ringing your personal alarm bells because I had an appointment. Therefore, a clearance."

  
Tony stared. "Hope gave you a clearance. What? Why? When did you even corrupt her? I don't like this."

  
"And I don't like you but here we are." Strange stated.

  
"I'd be shell shocked if you did, honeybunch." Tony grinned widely only to piss Strange off even more. Which it partially did.

  
"Okay. Now that we got that sorted out, I'm going to start this meeting which is actually important, instead of bickering like a pair of five year olds." Hope thundered.

  
"I'm sorry, am I missing the part where Hope starts hating you just because she hates everyone? And you know...you're _you_." Tony looked at Stephen who just sent a flat look back at him.

  
"I don't hate everyone, Tony. I merely... can't tolerate ridiculous people." Hope replied, shuffling the papers in her hand.

  
Tony waved his arm towards Stephen's entire vicinity, with the Cloak now settling down on his shoulders again. "And this guy doesn't scream ridiculous to you? He's dressed like a magician from some kid's show and did you even see that red blanket he keeps wearing? It's _alive_ , Hope."

  
" _This_ guy is standing right here so if you could continue your bitching at a later time, that'd be wonderful." Strange snapped.

  
"My house, my wish. And I wish to continue bitching till I can't bitch anymore."

Tony declared, his head held high and trying to square off against Strange but ugh, the guy was still towering over him. Tony secretly wished he wasn't barefooted right now. And wasn't so short. And Strange wasn't so annoyingly tall. 

  
"I can't believe this."

  
Hope's voice broke the tension once again and Stephen looked slightly confused. He lost focus on what he came to do. He never lost focus. _Stark_.

  
"I was going to ask you to stay for this Tony but I'm never putting you two together in the same room with me again until you've sorted out whatever messed up rivalry thing you've got going over here." Hope concluded.

  
Tony huffed and turned back to the kitchen to get another mug of coffee. The one Stephen conjured for him already gone. Stephen took his seat in front of Hope, deciding that he would not let Stark get to his head again.

  
Turned out Hope and Pepper had been having troubles feeding the press a made up story about a mysterious man seen in Manhattan alongside Iron Man and Spiderman. They all knew about maintaining secret identities and stuff and Hope had a hunch that Stephen would prefer to stay out of the public eyes, so she wanted to hash out everything with Stephen regarding all this drama. Also, there was the basket full of questions as to what Stephen's crazy work actually meant.

  
Once Hope and Stephen had worked out what to present to the hungry and questioning reporters, completely putting anything related to mystic arts out of the picture, Stephen stood up to take his leave.

  
"You know, you could always become one of us. It's not as bad as it looks really." Hope said to Strange.

  
Tony, who was curled up in the other corner of the room with his StarkPad and was pretending not to acknowledge the discussion taking place this whole time, visibly jumped. He had mostly tuned out their conversation long ago, instead choosing to occasionally observe the Doctor. Tony would never ever _ever_ admit but he just couldn't stop himself from glancing over at those sharp as fuck cheekbones and that fancy hair and those elegantly expressive eyebrows and that art that is Stephen Strange in general. Tony might not be fond of the person but he knew a hot specimen when he saw one. And holy shit, that magician took all the fucking cakes.

  
But that was totally not the point. And Tony totally didn't care about that. Not when it was Stephen Strange, the enigmatic jackass.

  
"Become one of the... Avengers?" Strange asked slowly.

  
Hope nodded. "Yeah. I mean, Peter keeps talking about you all the time and we could always use a teammate with your skills when things go ridiculously mental."

  
Tony was just about to bring in his strong protestation about this but Strange beat him to it.

  
"I am a Master of the Mystic Arts and I already have a duty as the protector of the New York Sanctum. To keep away mystical threats from this planet and protect this reality. Becoming an avenger is nowhere near my wishlist and I plan to keep it that way. Besides, I work best alone." Strange said.

  
"Yeah well, we don't need you anyway. We're all set. So you can go back to your mystical bullshit." Tony piped up from his place and two pair of eyes turned towards him. One cold and challenging and the other just plain annoyed.

  
"Tony, there are literally only the two of us. Because Vision disappears for days to meet Wanda, you and I both know that. And Rhodes is still- He has a long way to go in order to recover fully. We need to recruit and he is the best we can find. Peter trusts him." Hope sighed.

  
Tony clenched his jaw when Rhodes's condition was mentioned. He walked over to the other two. "Okay it's a two man...uh, two person team then. We can handle things. We _ARE_ handling things."

  
"Two's a pair, not a team." Strange interjected.

  
"Yeah? Nobody asked you, Strange." Tony snapped.

  
"I was just asked to join the band in case your pretence disinterest actually got to you and you missed it."

  
"That happened because nobody asked _me_ about it." Tony pointedly looked at Hope while unconsciously stepping into Strange's personal space. "I disagree."

  
"I disagreed first." Strange retaliated.

  
"Did you just agree with me by disagreeing to this? Fri, did you get that?" Tony called out gleefully.

  
"Absolutely, Boss."

  
"Don't get too excited, Stark." Strange growled.

  
"Oh you're yet to see me _actually_ excited, Strange." Tony smirked.

  
"What makes you think I want to?" Strange got closer to Tony's face and Tony swore the air conditioning was perfect just a minute ago. He shouldn't be feeling this hot.

  
"Believe me Doc, I can make you _crave_ to."

  
"I'd like to see you try, Stark."

  
"Alright here it goes again. I'm leaving this room before you boys go any further than aggressive flirting. _Testosterones_." Hope mumbled under her breath. "Goodbye, Doctor Strange. It's been a pleasure. Don't break each other's necks! Or lips!"

  
As Hope swiftly disappeared through the door, Strange chose to completely ignore both Hope's comment and Tony himself and created a swirling portal to the Sanctum in the middle of the living room. Tony apparently was offended at being ignored. He peered over Strange's shoulder.

  
"That's a neat trick. Where does that thing lead? To another realm where humans have three heads? A creepy haunted mansion? Or is this the one where sharks apparently get frisky with octopuses? Ha! Tentacles. Kinky."

  
"This is the one where my ears don't fall off because of your constant random rambling."

Strange deadpanned, turning back towards Tony who still hadn't moved from the spot he had been previously, meaning very very close to Strange. _Okay but those eyes oh my-_

  
"Can you make me a portal to...say, the Kepler-22b?" Tony abruptly asked in order to distract himself from the previous train of thoughts.

  
"I'd be ecstatic to leave you there surely, so yes."

  
"You ain't getting rid of me that easily. _Doctor_." Tony grinned at Strange, pronouncing the last word with a playful tone.

  
"You're not as-"

  
"Doc! Steph! You're back! I was just waiting for you here and I totally did not touch anything, I swear so can I- Oh shit not the magic bowl!"

  
A crash accompanied with an all too familiar voice was heard which was clearly coming from the other side of the portal. Tony and Stephen instantly knew who it was and Tony held back the strong urge to facepalm just to throw an amused smirk at Stephen and mouthed an incredible "Steph?!" to him. He was definitely going to use that one to piss the sorcerer off later. But currently, he got sidetracked as a head with wild brown hair and a pair of wide eyes peeked out from the other side of the shimmering portal.

  
"That was nothing! The stairs made it fall 'cause I might've tripped but- Uh. Uh...Mr Stark?"

  
Peter's already wide eyes somehow managed to turn wider as he blinked at them for a few times before fully appearing on the other side of the portal.

  
"Hey Kid. What's up with the visit to the wizard so often? Why aren't you home?" Tony raised an inquisitory eyebrow at the teenager.

  
Peter's bewildered look intensified. "I-I came to see Doctor Strange at the sanctum but he wasn't here and then the portal appeared and I thought you came back...I'm - I'm sorry I didn't know you two were here....together."

  
Maybe it was the confused and flustered way Peter said it, but Stephen instantly took two steps back, distancing himself from Tony. Damnit he really needed to stop doing that. Or at least needed to notice when exactly he had started doing that. Getting so...close to Tony.

  
"I had an appointment with Miss Van Dyne. Stark was just an unfortunate, not albeit unexpected company." Strange told Peter.

  
Tony gasped mockingly. "You wound me, Cheekbones. Was that not you who got all psyched to see me _excited_?"

  
"I believe you challenged me to something and I was born competitive. And used to winning as well." Strange countered smugly.

  
A squeak and a flutter later, they discovered that the Cloak of Levitation chose to leave Stephen's shoulders and instead wrapped a corner of itself around Peter's arm, dragging him back towards the inside of the Sanctum through the portal. The teenager in the picture had a look of confusion and mortification and slightly exhilarating amusement. The frighteningly expressive collars of the Cloak shook as if it was either irritated or exhausted at it's owner and his new-found bantering partner.

  
Strange seemingly understood the Cloak's gesture, or at least that's what Tony thought had happened, because he turned and crossed the portal to the other side in an instant.

  
"Hey at least give me back my kid! I swear you've put a spell on him or something." Tony called back.

  
"Um.. Sorry, Mr Stark. But he was supposed to show me the Andromeda Galaxy today and it's really really cool cause it all seems so real when he does it like I'm actually there and I just thought it would be fun so... I can totally not go if that's what you want. Should I come back?" Peter rambled, his eyes set on Tony for his response.

  
Tony saw the raw eagerness and excitement in the boy's eyes and bit back the smile threatening to break onto his face by pursuing his lips together.

  
"Nah. I think I'm gonna go teach Dum-E how to make a shake that doesn't kill anybody now. Go see the space, kid."

Peter grinned so brightly that Tony swore the room lit up for a moment before the boy hopped around and let the Cloak drag him away inside the sorcerer's mansion.

"Guess your ears are indeed falling off, Strange." Tony said, referring to Peter's retreating voice as he was talking excitedly again. Probably to the living cape, Tony mused.

  
"See you, Stark." Strange was looking intently at him. Tony didn't exactly understand the look in his eyes and it made him bristle.

  
"Why do you keep saying that?"

  
The slightest hint of what Tony presumed could be an actual smile flickered upon Stephen's face.

  
"Just because. Maybe I'll let you know the answer someday." Stephen raised his hand to close the portal. "Go sleep unless you want to permanantly take upon the appearance of a walking dead. Your shake making lessons can wait a few hours."

  
The portal closed with Stephen Strange and Peter Parker on the other side and Tony Stark suddenly realized he wanted nothing more than to be on that side too.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my GOD, Hope. Peter. Can you two chill and let them have their intense eyefucking session please Lmao. 
> 
> So I am such a horrible writer and I apologize profusely for the annoyingly late update. 
> 
> I went on a trip out of the state so didn't have any time to write I'm so sorry. I'll try and update once a week now that I'm back. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy and leave your opinions.


	4. Co-parenting And Surprises Can Be Stressful

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The one where certain plans are set into motion, unexpected phone calls ft. interupptions and a magical gift.

"It's Peter's birthday."

  
"I don't recall giving you my number."

  
"Funny. I dig out what I need, magic man. Keep up."

  
Stephen exhaled loudly. Getting a phone call from none other than Tony Stark wasn't exactly what he had been expecting but it also wasn't something that surprised him at this point. He was a little confused when his phone rang though because apart from Christine and Peter, no-one knew his contact anymore. And Christine preferred to email him rather than calling whereas Peter always resorted to sending texts after texts that never made much sense to Stephen.

  
"As I was saying, it's Peter's birthday." Tony repeated from the other side of the phone.

 

"Yes, it is. Unless what he's been excited about this whole last week was the sudden announcement that you've crowned him an avenger."

 

Tony snorted. "Yeah no. That's not happening anytime soon."

 

Stephen actually agreed with this decision of Tony. At the end of the day, Peter was still just a kid. He didn't need that huge sense of responsibility on his shoulders, weighing him down. The kid blamed himself enough for everything that happened around him.  
"But it's the kid's birthday and like you said, he's excited." Tony continued.

 

"If I said it, obviously I'm aware of that. And if you don't stop repeating the same sentence over and over again, this phone call is going to end in three, two- "

  
"So I'm throwing him a party." Tony paused noticeably, as if trying to apprehend Stephen's reaction to the information.

  
"Okay? That's great. What do you want me to do about it? Play the magician at the kid's party?" Stephen said bitterly. He wasn't sure why Tony was telling him this.

  
"Hey that's a nice idea! But it's a pity that they've grown out of the playing with balloon animals phase. You probably excel at those, right?" Tony quipped.

  
"Along with the ability to stick you in a time-loop and make you listen to shitty modern pop music forever, sure." Stephen shot back. He hated these magician and wizard references Tony insisted on making everytime Stephen talked to him.

  
"Okay, Doc. Tone down the cruelty. What got you so grouchy this early in the morning?" Tony continued before Stephen could respond. "I bet it's me. I excel at making people annoyed. It's a gift."

  
"You'd be surprised at how much of that gift I possess as well." Stephen remarked.

  
"No kidding." Stephen could actually hear the snark in Tony's voice. "But you're not letting me get to the point and I have a kid to pick up in a few minutes."

  
"Then get to the point instead of wasting any of our time." Stephen grumbled. "And it's only 11am. Peter's school isn't over until 3pm. What kid are you talking about?"

  
"Well that, I can't tell you yet." Tony's voice suddenly changed tone as he began talking to someone else. "No, no, no, don't go there you Dum-E-ass, you'll ruin everything! I swear you'll be rotting in a community college if you don't behave hey-"

  
Stephen hung up.

  
He had been in the middle of perfecting an intricate tracking spell in the hopes that Mordo hadn't taken precaution from this one too. And so he had no time for Tony Stark's nonsense. Even if some part of him wanted to keep listening to Tony talk because- Wow he had no idea why. That was weird.

  
But Tony still had something left to say.

  
"What do you want, Stark?" Stephen growled once he received Tony's call a second time with a huff.

  
"Wow, you're so fucking rude. That was uncalled for. Don't they teach you manners at your personified creepy version of Hogwarts?" Tony sounded affronted.

  
"No. I've never exactly been the epitome of good manners anyway."

  
"I can tell." A faint whirring noise could be heard in the background. "Your face is screaming that too."

 

Stephen narrowed his eyes. "What do you-"

 

"You know, you have this cold, stony bitchface plastered onto your face all the time? That one." Tony informed him all too delightfully.

  
Stephen scoffed. He absolutely did not-  
The Cloak which had been hovering beside Stephen and listening in to the conversation as the phone was on speaker, shrugged it's collars in clear agreement. What.

  
"Shut up. You're not supposed to take his side. You don't even like him-" Stephen felt betrayed by the Cloak's support to Tony's statement.

  
"Don't tell me you're talking to that living blanket because if that thing can talk, that is seriously too fucked up for my sanity."

  
"It's a very intelligent sentient Cloak which can kill you if it wants and no, it can't talk. Lord help me if I had to listen to another child whining into my ear all day." Stephen narrowly avoided a slap from the Cloak in retaliation.

  
Tony huffed. "I'm gonna pretend you didn't just include me in that category."

  
"Oh no, I did." Was Stephen's instant reply.

  
"You're invited, Jackass." Tony grumbled.

  
"To?"

  
"The party. For Spidey's birthday. I'm inviting. You. That was the point. Of this call. Okay."

  
Stephen blinked. Okay he was not anticipating that.

  
"That sounded like it physically pained you to say it." Of course Stephen chose to use snark instead of a normal reply.

  
Tony muttered something incomprehensible under his breath before resuming. "Yeah well, don't get way over in your head. The kid likes you so. If it was upto me, I'd never."

  
Stephen hummed. "I wouldn't dream of it otherwise."

  
There was a pause as both of them went silent for a moment. Stephen could hear the shallow breathing of Tony on the other end as if he wanted to say something more.

  
"Is that it?"

  
"Will you come?"

  
They broke the silence together. It's not the first time this had happened and Stephen found himself almost smiling at Tony's nervous tone which he was trying his best to hide behind those rambles.

  
"I-I mean.. The kid would love it if you were there 'cause I'm kinda going for the things and the people that would make him happy and there are not much of them really. He disturbingly likes you a lot and keeps talking about you so I just thought it'd be nice to- "

  
"I'll be there."

  
"- see if you would...Oh."

  
Tony shut up instantly. Stephen realized that Tony hadn't expected him to accept it so easily. It sounded like he was gearing up for a debate but suddenly it got cancelled.

  
"I will be there, but only because of Peter. So don't take this as your victory." Stephen stressed.

  
Tony seemed to find his swag back at this because he clipped back in no time.

  
"Yeah well, you got invited only because of Peter as well so don't take that as yours."

  
"So glad we're even. Do you have anything more to bother me about?" Stephen asked.

  
"Why? You got some demons in line to maim or something?"

  
"I'll take that as a no." Stephen almost hung up again when Tony yelled.

  
"Wait! I need you to do something."

  
Stephen's eyebrows shot up. Tony Stark asking him for a favour himself? This should be interesting.

  
                                    ***

  
This was without any doubt, turning into one of the worst days in Peter's life.

  
And to think that the universe would decide to show him some mercy on his 16th birthday.

  
He got detention today for skipping Spanish and Biology yesterday. In his defense, he was stopping a gang of international terrorists who were planning to bomb the subway and it might have taken a bit longer than he intended. For god's sake, he already knew everything in those classes anyways.

  
And then there was always Flash with his constant goal to make Peter's life a living hell. Seriously, that boy needed to shut the fuck up.

  
But Peter never thought Ned and MJ would act like this on this day of all. They were all supposed to hang out together after school but both of them got called from their homes for some reason and they just left Peter with a simple Happy Birthday.

  
Never mind. Aunt May turned the whole apartment looking like some festive carnival every year on Peter's birthday and tried to bake a decent enough cake but that didn't ever turn out to be too good for Peter's stomach. They would laugh about it, eat dinner on restaurants Peter knew were too expensive but she had been saving for that day and exchange silly stories. And Peter would love every single thing about that day.

  
So when his aunt called at noon, Peter's entire day was ruined in a minute.

  
"Hey sweetie, I'm so so sorry for this but I have to stay in late tonight. The client is huge and we cannot lose this one so please don't be upset okay?" May had gushed the moment Peter picked up.

  
Peter felt his face fall. But his voice never betrayed him.

  
"Yeah it's alright. I'll just wait for you to get back."

  
"Okay honey. I promise I'll make it up to you. We'll go to that ice cream place you love so much and happy birthday again! Love you!" And then she was gone.

  
Peter sighed. There were only two persons he could think of spending today with and Peter had no reason to believe that those two even remembered what today was.

  
"Mr Stark cancelled today's lab session, Peter."

  
Karen's voice startled him but what shocked him even more was her statement.

  
"What? But why?" Tony never cancelled their labtime unless he had to go overseas. It had become their own thing at this point and Peter's most anticipated part of the day. But today-

  
"I am sorry but I am not aware of the reason as that is all Friday authorized to inform me." Karen replied, making Peter's mood darken even more.

  
"Oh that's just great."

  
"I don't know if it will mean much to you if I say it, but happy birthday, Peter." Karen's cool voice said.

  
Peter smiled weakly. "Thank you, Karen. It means a lot."

  
So, soon Peter found himself on the doorstep of the familiar house in Greenwich. He didn't bother waiting outside or knocking, knowing that the spells were modified to always let him in.

  
"You didn't go patrolling today."

  
Stephen's familiar deep voice rang out from somewhere on his right. Peter followed his voice.

  
"Yeah, Just thought I'd drop by for a visit to my favourite magician first."

  
"I am the only magician you know personally."

  
"Semantics."

  
Peter entered a room which he knew Stephen used for meditating usually. Well, in his case, meditating while levitating. Peter attempted to call it Doctor Strange's Mystical Mevitating Session one time but Stephen shot that name down. Pity.

  
"I think that is the first time I've ever seen you normally walk into a room instead of swinging in or hopping in like an overexcited bunny or those four times, crawling in through the ceiling-" Stephen kept listing on.

  
"Says the guy who makes entrances by floating in midair from the shadows only for the dramatics of it."

  
Peter directed his response to an indeed floating Stephen Strange. He was hovering cross-legged midair in a meditating position but had his eyes fixed on Peter now.

  
The Cloak unceremoniously left Stephen's shoulders upon noticing Peter and rushed towards him. Stephen almost fell on his ass by the abruptness of it, managing to land with a soft thud by magic.

  
Peter laughed at Stephen's ungraceful landing while the Cloak showered him with affection. Well, it did that a lot to Peter. Probably more than Stephen.

  
"I will let that one slide only because it's your birthday, kid." Stephen stood up with a smooth movement.

  
Peter looked a little too surprised. "You remember?"

  
Stephen noted Peter's almost slumped posture, surprised look and the lack of usual animated energy around him. _Upset teenager. We need food._

  
"I have a photographic memory. I can't forget anything even if I want to. What makes you think I'll forget your plans for this day?"

Stephen teleported them to his study where pizza boxes and soda cans were stacked onto a desk.

  
Peter shrugged. "I don't know. It doesn't really matter. There are no plans anymore. Everyone's busy."

  
Peter avoided meeting Stephen's sharp gaze and picked up a soda can.

  
"What's wrong, Peter?"

  
"Nothing." Peter replied a little too quickly.

  
"Peter." Stephen tried to catch his eye and after a few minutes, Peter gave up and looked at him.

  
"Tell me what happened." Stephen's soft voice made him want to spill his guts but no, Peter wouldn't. Because it didn't matter.

  
"I told you it's nothing, Doc. I don't know why I'm being so childish." Peter mumbled. The Cloak patted Peter's head comfortingly.

  
Stephen studied him silently for a few minutes and it was really unnerving for Peter. He felt like Stephen was looking at him and reading all that shit on his mind like an open book.

  
"Give me your hand."

  
Peter looked up confusedly. "Um what?"

  
Stephen repeated patiently. "Your hand, Peter."

As Peter unsurely held his right arm up to Stephen, he grabbed it and turned it over so that it would rest horizontally.

  
Stephen then flicked his wrist and something appeared in his hand out of nowhere. Peter didn't have to peek at it to get a good look because Stephen then proceeded to clasp the thing around Peter's wrist gently.  
It was some sort of a bracelet. No, it was definitely a bracelet. The bracelet was astonishingly a perfect sliver with very intricate patterns of gold engraved all over it. Upon closer inspection, Peter recognized those impossibly tiny golden patterns as the huge symbol the sanctum had on the upstairs window and Stephen had on his necklace. Two circles overlapping each other and interlocked together held the bracelet locked. The bracelet all in all was beautiful and thin and it fit around Peter's wrist as if it modified itself to fit there perfectly. It rested on his wrist just above the webshooter Tony had made him.

  
"I, uh, well I thought so hard about what to get you and I've never- I'm not exactly used to this whole deal of presents and all...I don't actually remember the last time I got someone a present personally... But the point is, I'm not good at this." Stephen's voice was low and anxious.

  
Peter was intrigued. Stephen just always looked so calm and put together, this was a whole new side of him to Peter.

  
"Not good at gift giving or showing that you care?" Peter asked softly.

  
Stephen smiled wryly. "Peter, let me finish before you start quipping disturbingly accurate facts."

  
Peter grinned and shook his head. "You don't have to. I love this. Just look at it! It's beautiful!"

Peter wildly waved his right arm around, showing off the bracelet, not expecting the faint traces of gold in it to light up brightly.

  
"Whoa! That is so cool! What just happened?" Peter exclaimed, examining it closely.

  
Stephen chuckled. "Yeah, that. I might have turned this into a protective charm."

  
Peter stared with wide eyes. "This is a magic bracelet? What, like Cloaky?!"

  
Stephen shook his head. "Not exactly. The Cloak is it's own being. A very ancient relic. It's existence is entirely out of my influence. This one, though," Stephen nodded at the bracelet. "I forged this one with certain spells and factors entwined within it. It will only do it's job which is to ensure your safety when it becomes necessary, but it doesn't have it's own existence like the Cloak."

  
Peter took some time to process this. This was a huge gesture from Stephen and Peter felt so overwhelmed, he just wanted to cry. But he still had to know something.

  
"Stephen..I know that you only did this for me but.. I don't want to depend upon your help all the time. If it keeps saving me from all dangers, then I can't do anything on my own. You understand, right?"

  
Peter feared Stephen might take this the wrong way and think that Peter didn't want the bracelet. Because he did. He loved it and he loved that Stephen cared about him so much but-

  
Stephen chuckled. "See, I know you enough by now to perceive that it would be your first concern. I would never try to hinder your own actions as Spiderman. So, I'll let you know that it will only help you if you want it to. Or when you're in serious life threatening situation that you can't handle alone because you're very stubborn and I know you won't use it on your own even then."

  
"Ha ha. You can't call me stubborn because hello? That's like pot calling the kettle black." Peter exclaimed. "So this is essentially connected to my thoughts?"

  
Stephen hummed. "Sort of, yes. Your brain chemistry triggers it at times because you know, that's actaully a huge part of my expertise and I put it to use. Like, just now, it lit up because you were a little happy."

  
"Thank you." Peter's earnest voice made Stephen stop. "Thank you for this and thank you for being my friend, Stephen."

  
Stephen tried to wave it off but probably failed, judging by the quirk of his lips.

  
"Can I hug you?" Peter asked expectantly.

  
Stephen spluttered. "Why? No."

  
Peter huffed, sitting back. "What is it with you and Mr Stark? Are you two allergic to hugs or something? Seriously."

  
Peter noticed Stephen grimacing at that. "If you can tell me a hug will make you spill what's actually been bothering you, I can consider it."

  
Peter went silent, fiddling with the bracelet distractedly. Stephen decided to let him think alone, diverting his attention to the book on the desk instead.

  
"There was a.. A little boy.. I saw him on the way here actually. He was probably having a rather normal day of his life. Running around with his father, playing catch. His mother then calling them over for ice-cream. He looked so incredibly happy. And I just-" Peter's whispered voice cracked a little. The Cloak tightened itself around Peter.

  
"Peter-"

  
"-I just realized...that feeling, that experience, I never got to have that. I will never get to have that. May works so hard for me and I love her. She's all I have, you know. She's my only family and I just wanted to spend the day with my family." Peter sniffed, his eyes downcast. "I'm sorry."

  
Stephen sighed. "Peter, you have nothing to be sorry for. I'm terribly sorry for the loss of your parents. May might be your only family but family is not something that should only be defined by blood. Family is the people that love you, care about you and would go to any lengths to make you happy, keep you safe. Now, can you tell me there are not people who do all these for you? I know for a fact that you can't."

  
Stephen's soothing voice got to Peter. He was right.

Tony's familiar proud smile and a "Great job, kid." whenever Peter animatedly informed him after getting back from stopping some villain or even just acing a test.

Ned's spectacular fistbump and his rattling questions about literally everything.

MJ's weird but funny drawings of him and her salty oneliners.

The adventures across the multiverse Stephen only took him to along with the newfound but rare bond Peter formed with him.

May dancing with him like crazy, trying to cook new things even though she knew she couldn't cook difficult dishes for the life of her.

  
"Yeah." Peter smiled. "Yeah I can't."

 

                                   ***

 

"This was the stupidest idea you could ever have come up with!" Stephen hissed into the phone the moment the ringing stopped.

  
"Whoa Houdini! I'll have you know that I've broken records in the department of stupidest ideas so don't be too quick to judge." Tony's voice floated back.

  
Stephen continued whisper yelling as if Tony never spoke up. "He's upset! Your supposedly genius execution of that party made him upset!"

  
"What?" Tony's voice lost it's previous spirit, concern replacing it. "He can't be upset! That is totally the opposite of what we're trying to do here!"

  
"Exactly! What else do you expect when everyone he cares about ditches him out of the blue? He thinks nobody cares about him! I really doubt you thought that through before pulling this nonsense." Stephen glanced over his shoulder towards the door for any sign of the said person.

  
Tony rambled on. "Well he is not supposed to doubt anything. So we had to make him believe that there was no chance of something like this coming his way. That's how a goddamn surprise works!"

  
Stephen deadpanned with a flat voice. "Really?"

  
"Yeah okay. I may have consulted the other kids on that." Tony murmured. "So what? That's why I asked you to keep him company. Cause I didn't want him to be alone while we sort out this... Michelle don't let the kid climb onto the refrigerator! No there is no reason to stick the balloons there kid GET DOWN NOW!" Tony took a deep breath, yelling at someone...some people on the other side.

  
"It's MJ, old man! Stop calling me Michelle, it's boring!" A girl's voice yelled back from somewhere.

  
"If I jump from the vents onto the fridge, then it'll be so much more fun!" Another voice, unmistakably of a comparatively younger kid, shouted.

  
"No one is jumping off of anything! Or else you're all grounded." Tony raised his voice to be heard over the commotion.

  
"What, you can't ground us!"

  
"Oh yeah? Watch me!"

  
Stephen held the phone away from his ear, but he could still hear all the racket going on there. _What in the name of Vishanti are they even doing?_

  
"Stark!" Stephen, too, half yelled to get his attention. And would you look at that, it worked.

  
"I really can't tell if that's the noise of an impending party or the noise of children caused destruction."

  
"Oh trust me, it's both." Tony must have walked away from the chaos because the sounds considerably decreased. "I feel like I'm about to blow up from all this stress."

  
"Why would an eccentric billionaire take it upon himself to arrange a whole party with the help of a bunch of kids, when he could just throw money at organizers and make it happen?"

Stephen already knew the answer but watching Tony do so much for Peter never stopped astounding him. Frankly, it's was beyond adorable. Not that Stephen thought that. No.

  
"You see, technically, yes of course that'd be so much easier. But... It's Peter. And I know the kid. He doesn't care about how lavish or how gorgeous something is. He would love anything at all if it's..it's made with the slightest bit of care or affection. You could give him a half eaten sandwich absentmindedly and he'd still think that is the most touching thing you ever did for him." Tony's voice turned wistful talking about the impossibly innocent and kind hearted boy.

  
So Tony Stark decided to ditch all the party organizers in the world so that he could decorate and throw the party all by himself. Just because he knew Peter would love it the most when he realized Tony had actually put on this tremendous effort to make him happy. Because it showed that all of it, it came from the depth of his heart. It wasn't just another expensive party that meant nothing to Tony.

  
Tony cleared his throat. "The kids, actually were an unexpected occurrance. When I invited May, Ned and MJ, they instantly demanded that I let them in on this mission. So now, May took over my kitchen and I'm very much expecting something to catch on fire. The kids are decorating this place like it's Christmas and again, I'm expecting something to spontenously blow up."

  
Listening to Tony's story intently, Stephen unexpectedly wanted to be a part of it too.

  
He erased the weird funny longing look his face was making, even though there was no one to see that. _Where did that come from?_

  
"Peter is going to love this. You can stop radiating that anxious energy around the kids. Seriously, I can literally feel it through this phone." Stephen said.

  
Tony's voice got back the ever confident tone once again. He huffed.

"Why am I even telling you this?"

  
"I don't know. Why are you?"

  
"Why are you even chatting with me on the phone by the way? Where's the kid? Did you lose the kid? Don't tell me you lost the kid."

  
Stephen rolled his eyes. "He's not a baby that I'll lose him. He's in the training hall watching the cosmos and eating ice cream."

  
It was true though. Stephen had illusioned the hall into the vast galaxy that Peter could just walk through it and experience. Stephen slipped away quietly as Peter had been enamoured by the sheer beauty of it all.

  
"You gotta show me this cosmo slash galaxy trick one day, Doc." Tony mused.

  
"I don't provide personal sessions of 'Experience the incredulity of the Mystic Arts' to people."

  
"You do give these sessions to the kid. All the time." Tony pointed out.

  
"Because I like the kid." Stephen responded with a smooth voice.

  
"Touché." Another yell could be heard from somewhere and Tony sighed.

  
"Bring the kid at six like we discussed. And oh, Doctor?"

  
"Listening."

  
"Ditch the medieval costume. You don't wanna stick out like a sore thumb. An extremely hot, but sore thumb."

  
Stephen blinked. And then smirked. _Did he just-_

  
"You just called me hot."

  
"What, are you crazy?" Tony laughed nervously. "Man, the reception must be so bad in that old as fuck place you live in. That's why you're hearing things."

  
"Doesn't change the fact that you think I'm hot."

  
"Damn, that is totally May giving me the stink eye. If I don't go back-" Tony spluttered.

  
Stephen didn't buy it.

"Admit it."

 

"Never." Tony hissed back.

 

"I'm sure I can make you."

 

"Oh try me, Wizard."

  
                                        **

  
Peter Parker turned around from the doorway of the library, ready to go back the room he just came from. Because Stephen Strange blatantly phone flirting with whoever was on the other end was not something he wanted to witness.

 


	5. A Change Of Perception

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's an awesome party. There are absolutely amazing children. But Stephen feels too overwhelmed because of one smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There was a hidden nod towards another kid in the last chapter. Damn it, it wasn't very clear. 
> 
> Anyways. This chapter has a lot of kid encounters so...

_The first time Stephen saw Tony's lips genuinely splitting into that impossibly bright smile that could rival the sun and heard the deeply satisfying sound of his laugh, Tony was knee deep in wires and metals and was surrounded by a bunch of ecstatic kids._

  
Peter had gaped incredulously, then opened his mouth to say something, then uncharacteristically closed it without getting any word out when he had stepped foot into the compound living room filled with people, balloons, cheesy party decorations and a collective uncoordinated shout of 'surprise!'. It was only when May had surged forward to wrap him in a hug, Peter snapped out of it with a gasp and then started talking and had not stopped since then.

  
"Oh my god.. You all.. Okay what? I mean you guys did this...all of this for me? But I thought - This is amazing! It's- Thank you! But how-"

 The answer to 'how' was standing with his arms crossed, leaning against the couch and silently watching as Peter hugged everyone approaching him with genuine happiness flaring in his eyes. And that was all Tony wanted to see out of it all. The kid happy.

Everyone Peter would ever want to be here, Tony had gotten all of them. Happy and Pepper was engrossed in a conversation with Vision. _Pepper_. The remnants of a past and a lost future would always be with Pepper because yes, Tony had loved her but no, because Tony didn't deserve her. That's what he believed and there was no one to change his mind. Not anymore. Not yet. 

"Mr Stark!"

Tony grinned at the kid who was looking up at Tony with absolute reveration and a huge grin that threatened to split his face in half.

"Happy birthday, kid."

"I know it was your idea." Peter stated.

Tony slipped his hands into his pockets. "It was a team effort. You deserve it. Although I did realize that I might have to get into pop culture more if I wanna understand what you kids are actually on about. I swear I heard at least a dozen references that make absolutely no sense from those kids."

Peter giggled. "Vines and memes. Cover those and you'll be all set to mingle."

"Great. I'll just slip those into my schedule and add a sixth language to my folder. The Gen Z language." Tony said sarcastically.

"Thank you." Peter said in a quiet voice.

"For agreeing to watch memes? To be honest, I'm really not gonna do that. Is that how you say it? _Memes_?"

Peter shook his head. "No. For this. For making my day special. For caring. For always looking out for me. For everything that you do for me. Thank you, Mr Stark."

Tony didn't meet Peter's wide, sincere eyes full of respect and gratefulness. He was already way out of his depth here because holy shit, he didn't know what to say to that kid because he was shit at talking about these sort of things.

"Don't thank me yet, kid. Go join your buddies. I believe there's a surprise from Tennessee for you."

Peter's eyes instantly darted around the room again before settling onto a certain dusty blonde haired boy jumping and waving at them near Dum-E, U and Butterfingers, all of whom had been seemingly excited to be allowed to come up from the lab for the party.

"You brought him?!"

"Flew him in this morning. A decision I am starting to regret. He attempted to jump onto the fridge from the vents and then tried to convince May to make an exploding cake. I'll leave out the fact that he suggested we surprise you by dressing up as Star Wars characters, including Princess Leia." 

"That's classic Harley. That'd be one hell of a surprise." Peter snickered but at Tony's pointed glare, he clamped his mouth shut, still grinning widely.

Tony ruffled Peter's soft brown curls affectionately, giving him a slight push towards the others.

"Go. Enjoy, kid. It's your day."

"I have so much to catch up with Harley, Mr Stark! I'll be back! Thank you! Oh and by the way, that's not how you say _memes_."

 

Tony watched Peter hop away in pure unadulterated excitement as he reached Harley and they did that complicated fist bump that Ned and Peter always did. Peter  had taught that to Harley over video calls. Peter had stumbled into Tony's lab one day while he had been talking to Harley, and the two teenagers instantly formed a bond since then. Now they spent more time video calling each other than Tony even did.

 

"Told you he would love it. You should start listening to me more."

" _FUCK_! I swear to all the fucking deities out there, Strange-" Tony exhaled loudly, trying to get over the scare Strange's sudden appearance had caused.

"Careful. There are children present, considering this party is dedicated to one." Strange added in a smug voice.

"Will you fucking stop appearing out of-" Tony stopped abruptly as he looked up at Strange for the first time tonight. Because he had to. Because Strange looked different. _Very_ different.

 

Stephen Strange was dressed in a dark blue button up shirt that was accentuating every aspect, every curve of his body, with the top two buttons opened, showing off the angular patch of his neck and Tony distinctly felt pity for the other buttons of the shirt as they were doing their best not to pop off. Tony noticed Strange still had a pair of gloves on but these were black instead of the yellow ones he preferred with his robes.

Tony Stark himself was the best for owning tight pants because let's face it, he had assets better than the gods themselves. But holy shit, those black pants did look so fucking good on the Doctor and Tony's mind really needed to come back from that dirty place it was heading off to.

 

"I am expecting a rather juicy comment after that thorough check out, Stark."

Tony's eyes snapped back to Strange's electrifying blue ones and _okay this shirt makes his eyes look even more alluring what the-_

"It does? Thank you for the compliment." And _no no_ , how much of it had Tony blurted out loud? Stephen then winked, fucking winked at Tony. "Although I should say, you look really really good."

Tony cleared his throat, louder than necessary. Possibly to get it working again.

"Don't I always? I have to say, I didn't expect you to own anything other than those ridiculous wizard robes."

"Well, I had to listen to the host, didn't I?"

Tony didn't know what was happening here, but oh god, he loved it. There was just something about Strange that made him feel alive again, charging him up with adrenaline and electricity along with the feeling of an undeniable pull.

Tony nodded towards the chatter in the room. "So. Enjoying the party?"

Strange looked around. "For a place decorated by a couple of kids and a messy billionaire, this actually looks quite nice."

"I know. Surprisingly, we really pulled this off." Tony glanced back at the sound of laughter floating from where Peter and Harley stood, Ned and MJ by their side.

Something pushed aside Tony's arm but as Tony confusedly looked around, there was nothing. But he could've sworn he felt something moving past him.

"Stark?"

"Something's here. It's...what is it? Are you doing this, Strange?"

Understanding drawned upon Strange as he glared at the empty space beside Tony.

"It's.. Well, it's the Cloak."

Tony blinked incredulously. "It's what?"

Strange waved his hand inexplicably. "I tried to stop it from coming with us but it loves Peter and just would not stay behind. So I illusioned it as a coat but apparently it wants to whoosh around and _party_. And I really doubt this crowd would do well seeing a floating and very much alive Cloak. So I made it invisible."

There was a beat of silence and then Tony let out a laugh. Strange looked a little taken aback at that reaction. 

"It's not funny, Stark."

"You're right. It's not funny. It's hilarious." Tony snorted again. "Man, you really don't see the resemblance, do you? What you have here now is essentially the Invisibility Cloak, _but_ with the added ability to fly."

Strange rolled his eyes. "Levitate. And your Harry Potter loving ass needs to take a break."

"No can do. Hey, do you think it would let me test if it really works? Will I be invisible if I use it?" Tony asked with eagerness evident in his eyes.

Strange's eyes lingered on Tony's, looking for something. "Aren't you supposed to stay lightyears away from magic, oh the man of science?"

Tony quirked an eyebrow. "Is that an indirect way of you saying that I should stay lightyears away from you?"

"That's a direct way of saying that you only pretend to hate magic."

Tony faltered just for a moment. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Strange took a step forward. "You don't hate magic. You just don't trust it. You're wary of the concept of mystic arts only because you don't understand how it works. And that scares you."

Tony stared Strange down. The sorcerer was absolutely right. Tony had noticed before that the man was frighteningly insightful but he didn't expect Strange to understand his issues. Nobody ever did.

 "I have reasons to have trust issues. Plenty of it, actually. And when it concerns the major messed up factors, like this... Mystic arts, magical portals and shit, the scale goes a little higher. Because pardon me, but I can not trust something I don't have a reasonable explanation to." Tony frowned and looked away from Strange, unwelcomed memories trying to resurface in his mind.

"Then let me give you a reasonable explanation."

Tony looked back at Strange, genuinely startled at the sincere tone of his voice. He had expected Strange to make some snazzy quip about Tony's fear of magic, but not this response.

"What?"

Strange continued calmly, no hint of joke or playfulness evident on his face except pure integrity.

"I can make you understand. Maybe not all of it. I, myself have a lot to learn yet. But I can show you how it works. I know once you understand where it comes from, you will come to accept mystic arts without being so skeptical about it."

"Yeah? Well, I doubt that." Tony pondered over it for a few moments, still wondering about Strange's thoughtful offer.

"So... You're offering to show me how your super secret mystical glowy witchcraft comes to life?"

"Not if you continue to call it that."

Tony just had to ask this. This was all so unexpected. Why would Strange even bother? What was in this for him? The guy used to act like he hated Tony's guts. 

"Why?"

Strange scoffed. "Because it's not some lame witchcraft so you can't really call it-"

"No genius, I mean why would you wanna show it to me of all people?"

For the first time since meeting him, Tony saw Strange visibly falter. A hint of conflict showed up on his usually poised expression. The next moment it was gone.

"I don't -" _what, know?_

"Tony!"

Tony glanced for the last time at Strange's slightly relieved expression at getting interuppted. _He really didn't wanna answer, huh?_ He turned around just in time for a pair of little arms to lock around his legs, hugging his knees.

"Hey, Biscuit! Took you long enough."

Tony scooted down so that he could be on the eye level with the little girl. Her wide, brown eyes beaming with joy at seeing Tony. Tony couldn't help but smile widely at the pure innocence radiating off of the adorable girl.

Cassie Lang hooked her arms around Tony's neck before faking a sigh. "Mom, Daddy and Hope just won't stop chatting! I had to drag them out myself! You know how the adults get! So boring."

"Yeah they really are boring, aren't they? Good thing we're way cooler than those dull adults." Tony high fived Cassie at this.

Cassie giggled. "You told me you'd let me play with Dum-E and the others when I come back! Let's go let's go let's go!"

"We will. But first, did you wish Peter on your way?"

Cassie smacked her own forehead. "Oh nooo. I saw you over here and I totally forgot!"

Cassie Lang was another one of Tony's newfound reasons to not give up on everything. She was a ray of sunshine bundled up in a small package and she had decided that she needed to be Tony's friend when Scott had come over to apologize and hash everything out with him. He didn't want to lose a moment he could spend with his daughter so he had brought Cassie along and Tony would forever be thankful that he had. 

"Okay so let's go find him first. He'll be so happy to see you!"

Cassie nodded but then her eyes trailed past Tony and she gaped, her mouth falling open.

"Oh my god. Who is the tall pretty boy?" Cassie whispered in Tony's ear, not so quietly.

Tony looked behind him and snorted in amusement, seeing Strange still just standing there, looking all pretty and staring at the two of them.

"Oh that's Peter's new friend. _Another_ adult."

"You were talking to him? He's pretty! Isn't he your friend too? Make him your friend!"

Strange seemed to register that they were actually talking about him so he blinked and then stepped forward, nodding at Cassie.

"Hello. I'm Doctor Strange."

Cassie tilted her head. "Doctors aren't strange. They're scary." Tony snickered as Cassie resumed. "But you're pretty so I think I'll like you!"

Strange awkwardly tried smiling at her. "Thank you."

Tony gasped mockingly. "Oh, he can smile! Did that physically hurt you to do that with your face? Do you need an ice pack?"

Strange narrowed his eyes at Tony but Cassie smacked him on the arm.

"You're being rude to Peter's doctor friend! I'll tell Hope."

Tony flailed his arms defensively. "He's a big boy. He can take it. Oh, you wanna know something fun?" Tony leaned towards Cassie in a conspiring way.

"Stark, no-"

"He's also a part time magician."

Cassie's eyes widened more with curiousity as Strange squinted more dangerously at Tony.

"I like him, Tony! He's so pretty and he's a doctor and he's magical! You have to make him your friend!"

Tony pursed his lips to stop himself from laughing as Cassie now directed her attention to Strange again.

"Tony is super genius and super nice. And he can make all the cool stuff and look at him! He's really really handsome. He can be an amazing friend!" Cassie informed Strange very earnestly, who looked equally perplexed and amused.

"I can be his friend if he co-operates." Strange unexpectedly answered to Cassie, without looking at Tony.

Tony threw an astonished look at Stephen. Whoa, hold up, _Stephen_? When did that happen? Something was definitely up with tonight.

"Come on, Biscuit. Stop trying to recruit people to be my friends. Let's go find the birthday boy." Tony tugged on Cassie's hand and she obliged.

Tony turned over his shoulder before leaving with Cassie and smirked.

"Come along, pretty boy. There's a cake."

  
                                    **

  
All in all, it had been an amazing party. Not that it had any chance to be anything less than great, considering the host was Tony Stark himself.

 

Stephen found himself in the middle of an entirely new crowd. He met Cassie's dad, Scott Lang, who was surprisingly Hope's boyfriend and was basically on house arrest but apparently Tony had got him out for the time being. May and Happy introduced themselves to Stephen, the former more enthusiastically than the latter. None of them had any idea about him being a sorcerer in the least and he'd like to keep it that way.

  
There was a cake, there was loud music, there were silly games, there were presents, there were noisy overexcited teenagers and then there was Tony.

  
Stephen didn't know what was wrong with him but the whole time, he discovered the only thing his eyes will get drawn back to over and over again was the enchanting man. Tony was charismatic and dramatic all the while being compassionate and fierce and Stephen would be lying if he said he didn't find those attributes attractive. Although, he would gladly rather lie than to admit that infront of anyone.

  
Peter had already bid goodbye to his Decathlon team and some other kids from school, there were only a selective of them because they were only under the impression that Tony Stark was throwing a party for his favourite intern at SI and no-one wanted to miss out _that_ party.

 

Suddenly there was a little tug on his sleeve and he looked down to find Cassie trying to pull him towards a small group leaving for somewhere, with Tony at the front who had one arm around Peter's shoulder. The other three behind them were Ned, MJ and the blonde kid Stephen didn't recognize as the kid never made any move to talk to Stephen the entire time. Though Stephen had a feeling the kid had been giving him sharp looks for heaven knows why.

  
"Can we please take the pretty doctor with us to see it? Please?" Cassie directed her plead in the most adorable voice possible to the captain of this little team who glanced at Stephen and jerked his head towards the elevator.

  
"If your pretty doctor wants to tag along, then sure we can, Biscuit. I'm not gonna say no to that face. Are you, Stephanie?" Tony asked pointedly.

  
Stephen only let Cassie steer him towards the others in response, not knowing what exactly to say in front of these kids. He'd never really had to deal with children before, Christine was always there to save him from that.

  
Peter was swamped in a dorky sweater Ned and MJ had gotten him. A ridiculous party hat with a chemistry pun rested on his head. He exclaimed once Stephen caught up with them. "Doc! Say hi to the camera!"

He held the high tech sleek video camera upto Stephen's face. It was a gift from Tony. Peter had squealed in absolute delight when he got it and then bashfully added that Tony didn't have to get him such an expensive present. Tony had just waved it off and told Peter that he made it himself so he can go nuts with it as Tony noticed he loved making video diaries. Peter had never set it down since.

"Where exactly are we blindly following him to?" Stephen asked Peter to which he got a series of responses.

"Like the children of Hamelin!" It was Ned.

"Dude, don't compare him to the Pied Piper! He was evil and he killed children!" It was the blonde boy.

"It'd be nice if we knew where we're going, old man!" MJ spoke up.

"You could've just asked me, Doc. Although I wouldn't say." This was Tony.

"We're going to play!" That was Cassie.

"This way is Mr Stark's lab. But I don't think he's taking us there..." Peter trailed off as Tony did stop in front of the lab. "Oh, he _is_ taking us there."

 

There was a huge lab along the whole corridor parted by glass on their right. Stephen took one look inside through the glass and was beyond amazed. So this is where Iron Man comes to life.

A tiny part of him remembered the old days in his youth when he'd spend weeks inside his own labs, coming up with revolutionary new techniques on brain surgery.

"So, we're here." Tony ushered them inside another large part of the lab but this was partitioned with blocked glass doors that was connected with the other lab.

 

Stephen looked at the equipments and the setting and knew instantly why this lab was different from the one on the other side. There was no sight of any equipments that were not suitable for a certain too smart teenager.

"Whoa, Mr Stark, you made a new lab? What's this one for? Armour testing only? So that you don't break your own lab so often? But there's so many equipments here too! Shouldn't you like, put them away-"

"This is yours." Tony spoke abruptly.

Peter stuttered to a halt and his eyes widened for the millionth time that night.

"I- what, me? _Me_ , me?"

"Yes, dumbass, you. He's giving you a lab." MJ smacked Peter's head.

"You're giving me a whole lab?" Peter squeaked, staring incredulously at Tony. "But- I don't- what?"

"Give him a minute, he just needs to reboot." The other kid clapped Peter on the back and walked off to examine the lab along with Ned and MJ, leaving only Peter and Tony on the doorway with Stephen hanging behind.

"This does not mean you can indulge in mad science in here, okay kid? I saw the ideas you've sketched out and you needed a well equipped lab for actually making any of that happen anyways. Didn't supply anything dangerous enough for you to blow shit up-"

"That's a hundred dollars for the Little Devils' college fund." Tony's AI interuppted.

"-And as you can see, Fri will be monitoring you all the time so don't get any crazy ideas unless you wanna be grounded forever and also," Tony waved his hand in the direction of the glass partition and it disappeared, Tony's own lab was attached to this one. "This goes to my lab so technically we'll still be working in the same workshop."

Peter stared at the lab and at Tony in awe and respect and a deep love, his eyes filling up with tears of gratefulness.

"I don't deserve this.. I don't- Why do you have to do all of this for me? I-I don't know what to say." Peter whispered.

Tony ruffled Peter hair, a trait Stephen noticed he did often. "Because you deserve everything and I want to make sure that you reach your full potential." Tony shrugged and added in an attempt to seem nonchalant. "Also, I lost my last lab buddy so I figured why not make you one."

Peter chuckled tearfully. "Thank you. I just- thank you so much." Then suddenly he lit up. "I can show you the laser prototype I designed last week! Come on!" And he grabbed Tony's arm and dragged him towards a work bench, the others soon circling around and joining in with the two tinkering. With the exception of Cassie, all of them were major science nerds. 

  
So that's how Stephen Strange ended up leaning against the glass door and watching as Tony Stark's all too rare smile radiated brightly, illuminating everything around him while he had been showing the kids how to build an ultrasonic sound wave repulser now.

This was not the rough, snarky, arrogant  billionaire on the press. This was a compassionate and soft human being who cared and loved everyone around him. This was a whole new side of Tony Stephen discovered that night. 

His laugh echoed off the walls and did something to Stephen's heart because he should not be feeling so overwhelmed just because someone was smiling so beautifully.

  
"He's so dreamy, isn't he?"

"Yes." Stephen sighed.

"And beautiful. Definitely the most beautiful being in the universe."

"He is. Beautiful. And amazing." Stephen breathed, his eyes never leaving Tony's entrancing form and gorgeous smile. 

"Oh my god, I was right."

_What the fuck._

Stephen straightened up like someone physically electrified him and frankly, he would much prefer that than this because his attention snapped to a face with a cheshire cat grin.

"I was right. This is happening. You like him. Ha!" The blonde kid had snuck away from the little group and was now threatening to ruin Stephen's integrity. _No_.

"I'm sorry, what are you doing here?" Stephen crossed his arms, trying to come off as intimidating despite the fact that he was nervous as fuck because _the kid heard._

"Definitely not ogling the Mechanic." The kid had the audacity to smirk. Stephen suddenly had an urge to wipe this boy's memory.

"I don't know what you're referring to. I don't even know who you are?"

"Harley. That's me. And I'm here because I've been watching you this entire evening and you have not stopped staring at Mr Stark. Now that could only mean two things. Either you're secretly planning to murder him, which would be a stupid move cause you'll get smoked if you try _or_ you secretly have a crush on him. And you just confirmed yourself which one of the two it is." The kid, Harley, grinned even more widely. If that was even possible at this point.

"I'll choose the option none of the above." Stephen responded quite promptly.

Harley's grinning face dimmed and instead, a new serious somewhat dark look took over.

"That's too bad. Because if you're only here to use him or hurt him in any way, I have a really dear friend who would love to make your life a living hell. Isn't that right, Friday?"

"My priority is protecting and providing help to Peter, Harley, Col. Rhodes, Ms Potts and Boss. I would do whatever any of these five people deems necessary to ensure the others' well being." Was Friday's answer, who Stephen knew was Tony's AI by this point.

Stephen vaguely furrowed his brows. "Why do you even think of this shovel talk as a necessity?"

"Because I consider him family. And I refuse to watch him be hurt again because of another incompetent jerk in this universe." Harley concluded, his eyes holding a determined look.

 _Okay_. 

"Look.. Harley. That's a quite foreboding warning delivery skill you've got there. But I assure you, there is nothing here that you need to be so ready to plot a revenge." Stephen was regretting letting himself get carried away. This was awkward.

"Why would he plot revenge? Kid, what're you upto this time?" Tony came upto them, a curious and suspicious gaze in his eyes.

Harley just sent one last contemplating look at Stephen before turning to Tony.

"Since _somebody_ took apart my gun without telling me, I was just asking the doctor if he could tell me some innovating ways to get revenge."

"He has a gun?"

"Cassie wanted to see how it worked! It was just one old potato gun. Let it go, kid. I'll make you another."

"But it was the Mark ||, the first one you ever made me!" Harley protested.

"Yeah? And I upgraded it like, 15 times since then. It's demise was way overdue." Tony patted him on the shoulder.

"So much for sentiment." Harley muttered under his breath before taking off to join the others.

"I really didn't want to ask this. But who is that?" Stephen blurted out the question that had been bothering him too much. 

Tony gave him an amused look. "That's Harley Keener."

"So he's said."

At Stephen's deadpan glare, Tony shrugged.

"Oh that's just the kid I accidentally unofficially adopted when I broke into his garage in Tennessee and gave him a flash taser as a present so that he would let me charge my suit. My other suit, not this one."

"I'm shouldn't even be surprised at this point." Stephen said nonchalantly after a moment.

Tony leaned against the right side of the door, taking the place beside Stephen and facing the kids inside. "Yeah.. You're probably wondering why Tony Stark, the heartless merchant of death is mingling with these children." He chuckled ruefully. 

Stephen glanced at his side, having noticed the bitter, despising tone when Tony talked about himself. "No. Not really."

"No? Most would."

"I think we can safely say that I'm not most people. Point me to the direction of another magic doctor, I'll wait." Stephen pointedly arched his eyebrow.

Tony in turn, gave him a wry smile. "One of a kind in that aspect, I'll give you that."

He absentmindedly fiddled with the screwdriver in his hand. Stephen had noticed this about Tony in all of their encounters. Tony never stayed still at one place. He always vibrated off this crazy infectious adrenaline and was playing with something all the time.

"I have heard stories from Peter since that boy never learned how to shut up. I have seen you with Peter. Tonight just proved my previous hypothesis about you." Stephen said, looking forward instead of at Tony whose eyes he could feel on himself.

"Yeah? And what's that?"

"That you love kids." Stephen paused for a moment in case Tony decided to respond or more likely, deny but there was none. "A fact that thankfully the media never caught a sniff of. Good for your made up public facade."

"No one really does. I have a reputation to maintain, you know."

"The 'I don't give a damn about anything and nothing ever gets to me' reputation?"

Tony bemused. "You're frighteningly perceptive, anyone ever tell you that?"

"No-one's been as perceptive to notice my perception yet." Stephen affirmed.

"So I'm the first."

Stephen bristled. "That's not what I said."

"But that's what I heard." Tony gave him a cheeky grin to which Stephen briefly forgot what they were talking about before internally nodding. _Maybe that was what he had meant to say._

 

An invisible force smacked both Tony and Stephen out of nowhere and they both instantly knew what it was.

"Okay I've been allowing this for a long time now. But what exactly is your blanket's problem?" Tony glared at the thin air before him, because he couldn't see where the Cloak really was. But Stephen could. So he rolled his eyes at Tony because the Cloak wasn't even where he had been glaring.

"To quote my mentor, it's a fickle thing. And to quote me, it really doesn't like you for some reason." Stephen got smacked again at this. _Why_.

"Yeah? Buddy, that club is huge. The entire world is the subscribed member so get in line." Tony spoke to the air again.

Stephen didn't expect Tony to throw in self deprecating comments everytime it was something related to himself. But then again, Stephen hardly knew the man apart from the self obsessed  picture the media painted him to be. And Stephen was starting to realize after tonight that maybe, _maybe_ Tony Stark wasn't at all like he thought.

"Make your cape visible again."

Stephen blinked back to reality. "It's a Cloak. And what?"

"You know, these are just some very reliable kids and your cape likes Peter so I assume it could like kids in general. They'll be happy. The blanket will be happy. It's a win-win." Tony pointed out.

"You're trying to use a sentient Cloak as a party trick."

"No, I'm being considerate on behalf of everyone."

 

It didn't take very long to convince Stephen that no one in here would breathe a word about this outside of these walls once Peter joined in too. Stephen simply plucked the Cloak from midair and the rest of the kids gaped at the moving gorgeous red Cloak materializing out of thin air. Peter took over the job of explaining and introducing everyone to his new friend as the Cloak volunteered to shake everyone's hand with it's corner.

"See? It's working out. Although I don't get why this thing turns into the most sweetest thing around the kids but becomes a bitch around me." Tony mused.

"You have to win it's trust. Sometimes, we're all apprehensive of the people we don't understand." Stephen said, steeling his gaze on Tony.

Tony was staring intently at Stephen with that unravelling gaze again. Stephen realized that he had never seen such a captivating shade of honey brown. 

"Say, Doc. You wanna play?" Tony offered all of a sudden, nodding back towards his own lab.

"No. I'm fine."

"Come on. I know you were a man of science before joining Hogwarts and turning into Dumbledore so you'll have fun." Tony insisted. "And actually understand what I'm saying." 

Stephen crossed his arms. "I don't resemble Dumbledore and I am not a Wizard."

"Cool it, Pretty boy. See even your magic carpet is having fun! It won't hurt to let loose a little."

To Stephen's surprise, the Cloak seemed to be playing tag with the kids and the three bots Tony had brought in. Stephen vaguely remembered one of their names, _Dummy_?

"And your idea of letting loose is... Showing off your creations?"

"And your magic." Tony strode off to the other side and opened the door to his own lab, motioning Stephen in. "Remember that offer you made me? I never got the chance to let you know my answer."

 

And Stephen knew he wasn't really supposed to do this. He didn't have to show Tony anything. He didn't owe the man anything. He had a deep respect for Tony but that didn't mean he was inclined to try to erase Tony's fear of anything mystical. It was all too easy for him to refuse and not help Tony. 

 

But Stephen also wanted to get to know this man. For whatever reason. Because Tony Stark was intriguing and Tony Stark was the most difficult puzzle hidden in plain sight. One Stephen desperately wanted to solve.

  
And so Stephen followed Tony into his lab.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to thank each and everyone of you again. Because your support means everything to me. 
> 
> *Rant ahead sorry*
> 
> I started this fic even before IW because I just wanted to experience these two slowly getting to know each other. Learning to trust each other. Healing together. Irretrievably falling in love. 
> 
> I am not a writer(You can probably say that from this mess) but I only ever write about them because I want to. And I love to. So yeah. 
> 
> Now, there are obviously attraction involved because these idiots are both hot as fuck and neither is blind so. But this attraction is only the slightest step towards an ocean of feelings. But there's another ocean of past histories, hurt, mistrust, broken feelings between that. And an ocean needs a lot of time to be conquered. 
> 
> I'm so sorry if this is not to your liking and I wasted your time. I just love writing about them.


	6. One Step Forward, Two Steps Backwards

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Neither of them were used to people understanding them. And so they weren't used to dealing with that as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OH MY GOD. You guys made my insecure ass beam and laugh and dance with joy with all your wonderful comments!! 
> 
> I just love all of you. Thank you.

  
Stephen Strange confused Tony. On first encounter, some would say they were too much alike. But no, Tony knew that was the farthest from the truth. Maybe they both had their fair share of past histories full of tragic consequences but they were two entirely different beings with complex mindsets. But unbeknownest to them, they shared the ability to understand each other like no-one else. They were only starting to try and do just that, _understand_. But Tony just could not figure out this man at the moment.

  
"Turns out letting loose is hard when you can't drink your thoughts away."

Watching Tony saunter away to a far corner where there sat a coffee machine and a blender side by side, Stephen took in the havoc. The area around it looked like someone decided to put in every kind of things, and not only fruits inside the blender and turned it on without closing the lid. The smears of different colours of fruits in the wall certainly proved that thought to be true.

Tony followed Stephen's line of vision and waved his arms dismissively. "Those are the results of Dum-E's failed attempts at getting me a decent smoothie for once. Totally not my doing."

Choosing better than to comment on that matter, Stephen asked about the previous one. "I thought you weren't drinking tonight because of the...kids."

"I'm trying to aim for every night, actually. There were some... very compelling factors. So I quit."

And yes, Rhodey had made him promise to give up drinking. His health didn't need anymore worsening with alcohol. He already had enough damages without it. Losing what's left of his kidneys or livers wouldn't be that fun on top of losing his heart and mind. But what played the largest part in this decision was undoubtedly Peter. Tony didn't want the kid to see him broken and falling further down the abyssimal hole he was in.

"It is a rather good decision not to drown your livers in alcohol." Stephen said, with the usual nonchalance but Tony could hear the appreciative tone hidden underneath.

"Mhm. Coffee?" Tony raised his own full mug as an indication.

"You don't know how I like my coffee."

"No, but I'm sure you could just snap or, I don't know, blink and it would be exactly what you want."

Stephen shook his head, looking around attentively. "No, thank you."

"Oh, so you do have some manners." Tony quipped, his lips forming a smirk behind the mug.

"I did assume you invited me in here for something else other than sparking a debate with me." Stephen stated. "Or am I wrong to assume that?"

Tony leaned against his workbench, facing Stephen who was now examining a prosthetic prototype Tony had been working on earlier.

"To be honest, both. Fighting with you really makes my day, you know."

Tony might have said it mockingly but it was also partially true. Stephen was the only one Tony had ever met who could not only keep up with Tony's bullshit, but also could throw his sass back at him with ease. Rhodes and Pepper had kind of just accepted it as a Tony thing, they didn't try to out-sass him now anymore. They're just always concerned, like he was gonna break. Unlike Stephen. It was nice talking to him.

"It's not exactly a fight if we both have logical points, sans the aggressive delivery." Stephen briefly took his eyes off of the device in front of him to glance at Tony. "Reasoning is more like the word I would use."

"I... Am beginning to think that you left your bitchy self back at your creepyville tonight." Tony mused.

"You've never been to the Sanctum. How can you presume it's creepy?"

"One, because it's where _you_ live. And two, because Spidey basically records everything he does in there so I feel like I've personally been there and let me tell you, I really don't personally wanna be there."

Stephen nearly rolled his eyes. "Of course he does. And of course you watch all of them."

Tony shrugged nonchalantly. "They're funny. The kid is really good at impressions. He pulled a majorly hilarious Thor considering he never even met the guy."

"Once he fell down the stairs of the Sanctum because he was too busy filming 'A Day in Cloaky's Life'." Stephen bit back the laugh trying to escape remembering that nuisance of a day. "Apparently it never occurred to him that blindly following a flying Cloak everywhere might not be the wisest idea."

"He fell down the fucking stairs?" Tony exclaimed in an apalling voice. Peter never told him this.

Stephen studied Tony in a slightly amused manner. "He has spider instincts, he can cling to basically everything and besides, the Cloak was there. He wasn't hurt so you can stop being a concerned mom now."

Tony scoffed. _He was not-_ "Shut it, Strange. I'm just saying that this only proves that your house is freaky. There were legit moving and glowing pictures Peter was gushing on about. And you say it's not Hogwarts."

"It's not exactly my house, per say." Stephen pointed out. "The Sanctums are there to stop mystical threats from entering this world. As Master of the New York Sanctum, I have to stay there. It's my duty."

"Huh. Speaking of which, aren't you supposed to protect the reality from turning into shit or something? If you're here, then who's on the shit handling chair?"

Stephen leveled an unimpressed look at Tony's genius use of words. "I am not the only Master of the Mystic Arts. Wong guards the Sanctum when I'm out on.. vital mystical business."

Tony smirked. "Is that what you wizards call it when you need to go have some adult fun now and then?"

"It could be." Stephen replied with a hint of playfulness in his eyes, hidden behind a straight face.

"And by any chance, did you take a trip to Pennsylvania on one such business recently?"

"Why do you ask?"

Tony slid the holographic panel he had pulled up towards Stephen with a smooth flick of his wrist, noting the sorcerer's slight frown. He watched as Stephen surveyed the scene in the hologram and his expression slowly turned grim.

"This. Allentown started emanating crazy readings a while ago. And these matched 83% to the ones I got that day in Manhattan. You know, when you took a free fall. Well, they don't make much sense so I figured might be your thing." Tony zoomed in on one alley.

"The absurd signatures only appeared here and then after seven minutes, it vanished. But no-one was even seen there."

"Any casualties?" Stephen's voice was too quiet and Tony didn't like this. At all.

"Not really.. I mean, they found a guy who's on the third stage of brain cancer passed out on the 20th street. Normally, it wouldn't be relevant to this case but get this." Tony frowned, checking the facts infront of him again. "He was miraculously cured three years ago after turning up from an extensive exile. Doctors found no signs of cancer in his body when he was supposed to die from it years ago. But today, it's like-"

"-It's like he was never cured. He's back to the stage where he was three years ago before going missing." Stephen finished, exhaling defeatedly. "Andrew McCoy."

Blinking, Tony nodded. "Yes. So you do know about this. Care to tell me what freaky voodoo is going on this time?"

Stephen stared at the screen showing the alley which, to naked eye, was empty. But Stephen recognized the too slight shimmer in the air, cloaking whatever happened here from the cameras.

"Andrew McCoy was a sorcerer. He mastered mystic arts as a last resort. He was dying. He healed his damaged cells by channelling the energies of the cosmos. I read about him in the archives because I was intrigued by his case." Stephen said in a quiet voice.

Tony blinked several times. "Okay sure. People can just do that. Obviously. So what, does that healing come with an expire date? Why doesn't it work anymore?"

"Because he was stripped of his magic."

Tony rubbed his temple viciously, waiting for Stephen to continue or at least get to the coherent part of his explanation.

"It's Mordo." Stephen looked up from the hologram, a troubled look on his face. "He's not stopping."

"What, the guy who tried to kill you by flinging you off a roof?"

"He wasn't trying to kill me." Tony just made a face at him at this statement so he continued. "I believe that they were only trying to distract me or keep me otherwise occupied."

"Sure. Hurling people off from high places without safety measures is all good sport. It's not like there are worse ways to distract people." Tony said in an overly exaggerating cheery tone.

"I was in their way, not their target. They knew I'd get out. Besides, Mordo would never kill me. We.. do have a history."

Tony arched his eyebrows pointedly so Stephen rushed. "No. Not like that. Not that kinda history." Well, it wasn't like Stephen hadn't entertained the idea once though. "It's a long story but he was my friend... At least I thought so."

"Tough love, huh? A close friend turning sides, betraying trust and attempting to kill you, been there, lived that. So got it." Tony smiled ruefully.

There was a whole bunch of questions that arose in Stephen's mind. But he wasn't sure if asking about it would bode well for Tony. They weren't there. Not yet. Heaven knew if they ever would be. Although Stephen had a vague idea who Tony was talking about. So he decided to give Tony an even ground.

"I was the one who broke his belief." Stephen started. "Mordo, I mean. I found out something unsavory about our mentor and that dark side of her went against everything he put his trust on. He lost faith. And now he seems to be stuck on a mission of ridding the world of sorcerers."

Tony tilted his head. "That's stupid. What does he get out of this?"

"Restore natural balance, I guess. It's... I tend to mess with that a lot, if you couldn't tell already." Stephen let his eyes wander away to a far wall. "Mordo's loss itself was a huge setback for us sorcerers. Especially after our mentor, the ancient one's death....And now he's eliminating what's left of us. I shouldn't have told him those things that day."

For a few minutes, neither of them said anything. Tony, soaking up all these new and admittedly weird informations and Stephen, getting lost in the swirling thoughts inside his mind. He wasn't sure why he was telling Tony this. He wasn't sure what he was even doing here in the first place. All he knew was that he wanted to be here.

  
"I don't see where your fault comes in here."

Stephen startled at Tony's remark, clearly not expecting to hear that. He paused, letting his eyes roam back to Tony's warm, brown ones.

"I don't think you quite get what I'm saying. It was me who brought my impulsive doubts to him about something I barely understood at that moment. I struck the foundation of his belief and I acted against the natural law to fix things. Mordo and his current actions, it all started because of me." Because it _was_ , it just was on him, Stephen _knew_ it was on him.

Tony turned around to his workbench, picking up a wrench and prodding at a discarded piece of metal. Stephen realized it was only so that he wouldn't have to look at Stephen.

"Did you or did you not also find out whatever shit it was about your mentor the very same time as him?" Tony spoke up quietly.

With a hint of exasperation, Stephen responded, "Yes, but-"

"And did you or did you not choose to go nuts and decide that it was okay to kill people just because something is not exactly the way you thought it was?"

"He's not actually killing people, you know. He's taking away their essence of the mystic-"

"He's shoving them down a road that will only end in death or despair for those people. I think it could be accounted as the same thing as murder." Tony said.

"Look, I'm not gonna pretend that I understand everything about this fucked up mess, I actually have no fucking idea about any of this. But I can tell this, you both confronted a pivoting situation and he chose the other side to deal with it. That's his choice. You didn't make him go down that road. I just don't see why you think you play such a key role in that decision of his. Must be your big head."

It shouldn't be this easy. Tony shouldn't be this reasonable. Stephen shouldn't be staring at the back of Tony's head in what he presumed was absolute wonder in his eyes. He was glad Tony chose not to say this facing him, giving him the time to register and accept the words.

"Must be." He let out a wry smile. "Look-"

"But I do think what you should be stressing about is the fact that it's been weeks and you still haven't captured this weirdo." Tony threw a pointed glance over his shoulder, erasing any and every trace of the calmness his voice held from a moment ago.

"You losing your touch, wizard?"

Just like Tony Stark to act like nothing unusual happened or nothing out of ordinary was said.

After blinking away the intensity of the previous conversation and storing it in the back of his mind, Stephen replied. "He knows every tracking spell in the history of mystic arts and how to block them. I can not find him unless he wants me to find him. Or I create a new spell myself." He grimaced.

"Well, can't you? Create a new one? You were quite the hot topic for the medical journals because of your intelligence, _Doctor Strange_. I hear they called you "The hottest young medical prodigy of the century"."

It was so easy to fall back on their usual banter. It was always so right with them.

"That's not how it works." Stephen scoffed. "And stop reading about me in ancient news articles. It's creepy."

"It's background check, Grumpy. I had to find out whether Spidey was gonna be all buddy buddy with some sort of crazy criminal or something." Tony held up his hands defensively.

Stephen raised an eyebrow at the crazy criminal part. "I hardly think you found out anything useful there."

"Not after you disappeared off to Hogwarts. No. Some of the magazines even speculated that it was all a ruse and you just ran off to the sunset with your fellow doctor girlfriend." Tony sent him an amused look.

 _They pulled Christine in this? Fucking reporters_. "You of all people know better than to believe everything the media has to say, don't you?"

"Yeah, on that note, did you really operate on three different people with severe nerve damage within half an hour and came out with 100% success?"

Looking back at the prosthetic braces in front of him, Stephen hummed. "Yes, that one you should definitely believe." He ran his gloved fingers over the leg braces. "I take it this is meant to be for someone with spinal cord injuries reducing the ability to walk. Colonel Rhodes, I presume?"

Gaze fixated on the tech, Tony tried hard not to flinch at the mention of his best friend and his situation Tony believed he had put him in. "You seem to keep up with the news as well, I see."

Stephen must have noticed the blunt tone of Tony's voice because he took one glance at Tony before shrugging and going back to their familiar territory. "It comes with the job. Colonel Rhodes is a great man. This gear should be working well for him. You're upgrading it?"

Tony perked up. "You like it? I was thinking of adding shock absorvants and make sure to add support to all of the motor nerves." Tony was beside him the next moment, pulling up a clutter of ideas scattered around the hologram along with Rhodes's medical reports.

"His legs spasm systematically after a while he keeps walking and I need to figure out if I can reduce that to zero. Also, it thought of this new substance to-"

Tony went on a rant explaining and pitching his ideas to Stephen who had no trouble keeping up. He listened to Tony, inserted his own opinion wherever he seemed necessary and Tony never looked more joyous. Okay no, maybe he did with the kids. But Stephen could tell this was Tony's passion. Because he was _glowing_.

But the thing was, this, this Tony Stark was unmatched. It was his space, his passion, his work, his lab, his sanity. Stephen could bet that Tony would never look this comfortable, this excited anywhere else doing anything else. And there was nothing in this ethereal moment that Stephen couldn't appreciate. The way his eyes lit up, the buzzing energy he was radiating, the enthusiastic edges in his words, it was all just, beautiful.

  
Tony didn't notice Stephen's eyes fixed on him, too preoccupied into his theories. That was probably for the best. They were standing a little too close, if Tony looked up right now, it would either be a very awkward moment or a very intimate moment for Stephen. So he just tried to not think about that, focusing on Tony's words rather than his ragingly distracting persona.  
Tony seemed to also want this to be perfect for Rhodey and Stephen found himself tearing his eyes away from Tony with difficulty and looking through Rhodes's medical reports.

"So just imagine how much this can help people! Once I finish this set of upgrades, SI is gonna provide for those who need these. And don't worry, it's not business, it's... 'Whenever you need giveaway'. Pep already has everything ready, bless her."

And Stephen agreed wholeheartedly. This action of Tony's would make the lives of millions of people with disability so much better. His respect and admiration for Tony went up several notches but out loud, he only said, "You might want to make up a new name for that, by the way. It sucks."

Tony only grinned. "Maybe you won't be such a bad companion, Doc. Friday thinks so. Oh, have you met Fri? Friday, say hello to Doc."

"Hello, Doctor Strange. I believe you are already aware of my identity. It is my utmost pleasure to finally be formally introduced." Friday's Irish accented voice floated in. As if she didn't team up with Harley to discreetly threaten him earlier the night.

"Likewise, Friday." Stephen gave a nod absentmindedly, still looking, more like, frowning at the reports.

"What is it?" Upon noticing Stephen's expression, Tony peeked at the screen from his side.

"This.. They didn't connect the 8th nerve to the medulla oblongata. It was ripped and now... Friday, can you please project Colonel Rhodes's current nervous system?" Stephen asked distractedly.

"Do as he says, Fri."

It was several minutes later, after Stephen let Tony know of his findings, he watched as Tony's eyes widened in hope and revelation.

"You're saying Rhodey can walk again on his own?" There was hope, but there was also doubt and trepidation in that question.

"I'm saying that if the doctors are able to successfully repair the bridge between those two motor neurons, then yes, it is very much possible." Stephen was suddenly becoming more and more aware of what he was doing. "However, that will be one of the most difficult surgeries and tremendously risky, so you better find the best of the best."

Tony stared at the projection for a long minute. Then turned to Stephen with a look that said, _you're the best of the best_ and spoke softly.

"Can you help him?"

Stephen stiffened. "You know I can't. Not anymore."

Tony shook his head. "Not with that. I know.. But no-one is more qualified than you when it comes to this. You know everything about human body, the nervous system and how it works and you can just stay there and guide the others through the procedure. They missed this the last time. What if they do it again?"

 _No_. His hands protested loudly and painfully and Stephen clasped them together and kept them hidden at his back. This wasn't his world anymore. He couldn't possibly stay here. This burned too much. This reminded him of too much loss.

"I'm sure you will find someone more than capable for this. Now if you'll excuse me, I have more pressing matters to attend to."

Stephen needed to get away. From here. From... This. He thought he made peace with the loss of this life. He really did. But not always. At times, he still lost control, felt trapped. He only wished it hadn't been right this moment.

"Like what? Chasing after that no show guy for the hundredth time?" Tony exhaled loudly. "Look, I know it is hard for you, but you're a doctor and you can't just turn your back on someone who needs help!"

"He needs help, yes. But it's not my help. I can not- I _can't_ help anybody anymore." Stephen gritted his teeth, wrung his hands more harshly, ignoring the pain shooting through his veins.

  
Tony visibly backed down. He was running on the high of hope and he acted on it. But now, as he came down, he instantly stopped. A veil of understanding was clear in his eyes and Stephen suddenly hated it. Hated that someone could understand he was so vulnerable inside. Hated that after all this time, he could barely contain himself in front of someone who probably knew all too well how it was like to be destroyed.

  
"Okay. Okay I get it. You don't have to-"

"See you, Stark."

And then Stephen was gone.

Tony could hear him swishing out the door, Peter's muffled question, a chorus of goodbyes outside and one last faint whirring sound of the mechanical door closing. He vaguely wondered if there was one single thing in this universe that he was not supposed to fuck up.

  
                                        **

 

  
"Did you guys end up fighting again?"

He was familiar with the voice popping up from anywhere at anytime by now. So Tony didn't even look at all phased by Peter's all too curious big brown eyes staring at him from the other side of the desk.

"Didn't all your friends leave? I asked Happy to drop them off. Isn't it a little too late for you to still be down here? May told you that you two are staying over here tonight, right? You get that room right beside Vision's. Just don't roam around in a compromising position cause he doesn't quite get the concept of a closed door-"

"Mr Stark!" Peter exclaimed a little loudly to snap Tony out of his rambling. Which worked. Tony paused and looked over at Peter silently.

"Yes, I found the room. Yes, Happy took them all home and yes, it's late. But I can't sleep. Guess I'm still running on adrenaline. And yes, Vision already paid a surprise visit to my room. I just came down here to talk." Peter said earnestly.

Tony slid off the bench, moving the projections off the path. "Alright, but you get 10 minutes then you go to sleep. It's past midnight. Aren't kids supposed to go to bed by 9 or something?"

Peter laughed. "I'm officially 16 now, not six." He added in a accusing tone, "And you're avoiding my question."

"Hmm? Which one?"

"Did you fight with Stephen again?"

Flopping onto the couch, Tony let his head fall back. "We don't fight. We reason."

"Uh huh. I was thinking you two were finally getting along. Tonight was great so far I watched you guys. What happened?" Peter tilted his head, resting it on his forearm and getting a better look Tony.

"Nothing happened. Wait, why do you even think something did? And what is this? Are you here to tell me to be all warm and fuzzy to the wizard? Who's the adult here?" Tony faked a half offended tone.

"Currently, none." As Tony shot a glare at Peter's all too adorable face, Peter grinned widely until Tony groaned and fell back on the couch, giving up trying to pretend to be mad at that kid. _Damn puppy eyes and manipulative cute grins._

"Come on! I just think it'd be awesome if you guys become friends. Think of the power moves if we team up together! The bad guys won't even know what hit them! We could totally have killer superhero hangouts like-"

"Hold up, kid." Tony put his index finger up in the air. "I don't know what you're planning to accomplish here and how far you've dreamed of this fantasy, but it's not gonna work."

"But why?? You could at least try to get to know him!" Peter low-key whined.

"Because we just can't! Be friends! Or even work partners!" Tony's frustations reared up. "We push each other's buttons too much, we see into each other too much and neither of us can ever deal well with that! I want to understand him, and I feel like I do but then- but then one of us will snap or shut down and it's all such a fu- a mess. It won't work, Pete. So just stop." He was too exhausted.

  
After a few silent seconds passed, Peter spoke quietly. "He's really lonely, you know. I think he just doesn't know anymore how to accept it when someone extends a supporting hand towards him." Peter smiled thoughtfully. "At least you do want him to stick around."

Tony grumbled. "No, I don't. If I hear that got to Strange's ears, someone is gonna end up without lab privileges for a month."

"Oh come on! It's for a good cause!"

"No, I don't wanna hear it. Off you go. May is right in this building and I will tell on you."

"That's such a low blow! It's my birthday!"

Tony narrowed his eyes. "As of twenty one minutes ago, that card is no longer in play."

Peter reluctantly stood up from his sprawled position on the desk. "Geez, do you even have an off switch on that parenting mode of yours?"

And if Tony had a little panicked moment to himself at the word ' _parenting_ ', then no one really had to know, right?

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So we had fun with this so far. They had fun. But now... Well things aren't always gonna be all rainbows and sunshines, are they? :)
> 
> Hope you enjoy!!


	7. Got You Before You Could Fall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes, there seems no other way than to go down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just wanna clarify something. 
> 
> There is absolutely no hate towards Steve Rogers here. What it is, is only the consequences and effects of whatever happened in Civil War. 
> 
> We all know Tony was beyond traumatized because of Siberia. I only mentioned that. No hate. Towards any character in my fic.
> 
> Well, yeah except maybe Thanos, the purple bald ballsack jawed grape. 
> 
> (Thankfully we're not there yet)

 

There had been a time once when Tony would be at least a little startled at someone's presence in his living room. If he looked back at the years in the Avengers tower, there was always one or another avenger who'd keep lounging around an unsuspecting Tony and scare the crap out of him. That was then and that was fun.

Now, Tony just heaved a tired sigh and didn't even turn around at the sound of deliberate light footsteps stopping behind him. Because he knew those footsteps. For years.

"You're not really supposed to be here."

"I heard there was a party." The voice was still as smooth and calm as Tony remembered. "Wasn't hoping for an invite but it would've been nice."

"That's because this is not somewhere you should be now."

"Probably not. But I don't always do what I'm supposed to. You know that more than anyone, Tony. I did it to you too."

And if there was any hope that Tony would get by without head on addressing her unexpected presence or acknowledging the fact that she had to be here for something Tony was trying to bury deep within him, then it was all lost. His shoulders drooped down in a defeated stance.

"What do you want, Natasha?"

For all her credit, Natasha Romanoff remained silent for a long time. Tony presumed that she likely wasn't going to talk further if he didn't face her anytime soon. But-

"I wanted to see you."

And that did get his attention. Huh. Natasha would never answer with that one. Because everything was goddamn cryptic with the spy.

When Tony turned around, she was there, head held high, a head full of blonde hair, Tony noted, lips drawn in a straight line, but eyes shining with something akin to earnest compassion. 

"Whoa. I gotta tell you, I really liked the red better. It was fiery." Tony nodded at her newly styled hair. 

"And it was a neon sign flashing my identity." Natasha's eyes roamed over Tony's face. "It's good to see you, Tony." 

Tony didn't find an ounce of dishonesty in her voice and that earnest look. It made him bristle with uncertainty. 

"Yeah, well. As touching as that is, it's not all, is it? You didn't come out of the shadows just to pay me a pleasant visit, did you?" _A friendly visit_ , Tony would say, but that wouldn't be the right term to say anymore. 

She stared. Long time ago, that used to freak Tony out as she looked like she was planning your death in 201 ways with that surveying look. But he had learned to read the unreadable Natasha since then. Because he would do anything for his friends.

Then she spoke up. 

"I knew." 

Oh yeah, he had already figured that out. There was no way Natasha Romanoff wouldn't get her hands on something like that. Not when the Winter Soldier had been her assignment once. Not when even Rogers knew. Not when Natasha had been shadowing Rogers since S.H.I.E.L.D's fall. 

Was he surprised? No.

"What do you want me to say?" Tony sighed. "I've moved past the point of being shocked at these. Are you gonna tell me that it was for my own good? Sure, fire away."

For the first time since Tony had known Natasha, she looked weary. Aside from the time Wanda fucked with her head. She lowered her eyes, pursed her lips before talking.

"I was asked to wait. Because apparently it was not the right time. It never was. I was asked to step aside because it was not my truth to tell. I'm not trying to make excuses for something I clearly did, Tony."

She looked up. "I let them go that day because they were trying to stop five more kill machines from getting out. I let them go because it was supposed to be the right thing. I didn't tell you because it wasn't supposed to be me."

Tony understood. Even before Nat showed up, he understood her reasons. He wasn't really mad at her. He wasn't really mad at anyone anymore. _Just done with the past._  

"How's Wakanda? T'Challa hasn't exactly invited me over yet. I got a feeling he's hiding a lot. And not just the majority of the band, something more."

She relaxed slightly. Tony never really had to speak out fully for her to get something. They had been friends for a long time. Longer than anyone else on the so called team. And Tony had a feeling he was going to get it back. That somewhat weird but rare friendship. 

"And I have a feeling you'll soon find out exactly what Wakanda is hiding. You're gonna love it."

They talked. Almost like the old times. She didn't radiate the same comfort he used to take in Bruce, but she was damn close. 

Then she pulled out a flashdrive and placed it on the counter. 

"There was only one other place this footage was stored." She said calmly. "You will never have to think about this again. I'm going to burn it. In front of you. This is the last piece. It's...Closure."

He knew what was it was. Siberia. "How many laws did you break for this?"

She smiled weakly. "That's not something you'd ask."

It wasn't. But he didn't want to say anything. 

"He didn't tell anyone." She whispered. "What happened. I hacked in. I will destroy this now if you want. I want to."

And Tony knew he would regret it. But he wasn't breathing much anyways. "Leave it here."

Natasha jerked up her head. "You can't-"

_Watch it? Yeah_. "I won't. But like you said, it's not supposed to be you." Tony wondered how he was this calm.

Later, when she was leaving, Tony shrugged and said, "I never changed the code for the compound for a reason, you know."

And the underlying welcome was clear. She only gave a nod.

Nothing was the same and it would never be again. But that didn't mean he couldn't build the bridges towards healing.

 

                                       ***

  
This was how it all started to fall apart-

  
Tony must have loved to torture himself. 

Because he watched the footage. 

He didn't mean to watch it. It was just there. He felt numb. He felt pulled towards it. And then when the video was playing again right in front of him, he felt that he couldn't breathe. 

Oh. He couldn't breathe because he _wasn't_ trying to. And even when he tried, the air just refused to get in. 

_Panic attack_. 

So yeah, Tony Stark was having a huge panic attack in the middle of the compound all alone with no one around to help him. 

At least it wasn't the first time he was alone while going through this hell. He should be used to it. 

It took him a while to acknowledge that the alarm wasn't just the ringing in his ears but someone was indeed attacking Brooklyn and the sensors were blaring at him to get up, suit up and go save them. 

He really tried. 

But it took him a while. 

And it only took a while for the bomb to blow up in Brooklyn. 

He was only six seconds late to the bomb when he got there. 

Just because he was struggling to continue breathing for those few minutes, eight more people stopped breathing forever. 

Eight more lives were lost on his hand.

  
Peter called sometime after. He snapped at the kid. Told him to go and do what a kid his age was supposed to do. _Live_. The poor kid sounded bewildered and ready to appear at his door, sensing his distress. 

But he couldn't face the kid. Not now. Not today. 

He just killed eight more people today. 

He just watched his parents be murdered again today. 

He just watched his friend shatter his heart again today. 

He just failed to do what he was only alive to do. Save lives. 

Tony Stark failed and he turned back to an old method to numb his pain.

  
                                        **

  
Stephen just wanted to go home and sleep. Preferably for 24 hours.

  
It had been a freakishly long day. Between teaching several classes in Kamar Taj, sitting through a mind numbing council meeting, training to learn new spells and then chasing and banishing meddling creatures from another dimension _thrice_ in one day really made him exhausted.

  
Which was why he was not the slightest bit of amused when the Cloak took off from his shoulders and raced down the street.

"What- Levi, come back! I swear I will leave you here if you don't."

Here being the mirror dimension, Stephen followed the way the Cloak had decided to run off unceremoniously. _Seriously, what was the deal now?_

"This is not the time for your shenanigans, Levi. What are you even-"

Stephen heard it before he reached near enough to see. A voice. Someone was talking...all by himself. It took him only a few moments but he realized that he knew exactly who that voice belonged to.

The Cloak was hovering beside Tony Stark. The genius in question was sprawled on the ground, his attention solely in front of him as he talked in a low voice. 

Stephen followed Tony's line of sight and did a double take at the inscripted stone. He only now realized that he had followed the Cloak into a cemetery in the dark. A cemetery where Tony Stark was currently sitting in front of two similar adjacent graves.

  
"-and then I yelled at him. I know, I know. That was wrong. But-" Tony paused for a moment. "This life- It's so dangerous. He's just so young and he's my legacy, mom. I'm so proud of him. But I-I will ruin him in one way or another and I can't do that. Not to that kid."

_Peter_. He was talking about Peter. To his mother.

The Cloak pushed Stephen forward as he was rooted to his spot several feets away. For a terrifying moment, Stephen feared that Tony would look up and find him intruding on a moment that was clearly his own. But he was in the mirror dimension. Tony couldn't see him. 

Tony's eyes were distant. They were fixed at the cursive inscription that read, ' _Maria Collins Carbonell Stark_ ' but they were lost somewhere far. He was kneeling infront of the gravestone with his head hung low. The cracks in his voice were more than enough to know his emotional state. 

  
Stephen pulled at the Cloak automatically. "We should go. This isn't- We're not supposed to see this."

But the Cloak gave a pointed shake and stood even closer to Tony's hunched form. It must have sensed Tony's distressed aura and located him. Now it wouldn't budge. And to think, the Cloak always acted like it hated Tony.

  
A hiccup. An unsteady bitter laugh. "Who am I kidding, mom? My legacy is destruction. I- Oh mom, I failed again. And I will fail them too.. What if I can't save him when- when... " 

Stephen ached to touch that broken man in front of him. He was so close but still so far away. And it was hurting Stephen. Watching Tony helplessly, not being able to do anything. He didn't know why, but it was. 

"What do I do, Mom? I keep trying but it's- it's never enough. I'm not enough. I don't- I don't know how long I can do this alone. I don't-" He kept murmuring and if it was possible for Stephen's heart to break even more, it just did.

  
"No..." Stephen whispered, his hand reaching out to Tony. "You're not alone, dumbass. And don't you dare say you're not enough. That's an argument I could keep up all day and win."

Tony remained oblivious to his words. Because damnit, Stephen didn't have the right to say this to Tony for real, face to face. They were both here, but there was a whole dimension between them and Stephen didn't think he would ever be able to cross it.

  
"I'll let you sleep now. Say hello to old man for me, will you?" Tony's eyes skittered to the side at his father's grave for a second. "He's never really liked me disturbing his peace."

It was when Tony struggled to move and get up from his position on the ground, swaying heavily and stumbling on his own feet, Stephen's mind registered the fact that Tony was drunk.

  
In a swift motion, not caring about how Tony would take him being there, witnessing what was clearly a vulnerable private moment, Stephen dashed through a hastily made portal and grabbed Tony's arm, pulling him towards himself in the process.

  
"Are you crazy? You were just about to crack open your skull if you fell on that!" Stephen jerked his head towards the large stonehead behind them. If he hadn't caught Tony in time, there was no doubt his head would be painting all over that stone.

  
Tony, for several moments, looked dazed. Stephen could pinpoint the exact moment Tony realized what was happening as a lazy grin spread over his lips and the arm that was limp at his side sneaked around Stephen.

"Looky who's here to care from thin fucking air!" Tony exclaimed dazedly, his eyes surprisingly wide for someone so smashed with alcohol. "Holy shit, I think that rhymed!"

"Yes, it did, genius. Bravo."

  
And if they weren't standing in a cemetery in front of Tony's parents' graves in the middle of the night, with half of them drunk, Stephen would be super conscious of how they were basically hugging each other. Stephen's one arm was around Tony's back and another on his upper arm, a necessity to keep Tony from falling over, he told himself. It didn't really help that Tony leaned into him even more, making Stephen's insides flutter unexpectedly.

  
Tony seemed to slightly get down from the initial surprise, even in his hazy mind.

"Whaa- How did you find me? You- like, following me or- or something? Because that'd be- that'd beee creepingly creepery creepy."

"I'm blown away by your articulate formations of new words." Stephen deadpanned, fondly at that, if that was even possible. 

"You relapsed." It wasn't a question. Just a plain old statement of the obvious.

Tony attempted a half hearted shrug. "Killed a bunch of people today. Seemed as good a time as any to go down the drain."

Squeezing his eyes shut, Stephen unconsciously tightened his hold on Tony. He's sure he'd never get to have Tony this close to him again and he didn't know how to get this dumbass to believe that he wasn't the monster he was making himself to be. He was the complete opposite. 

"I heard about the- Brooklyn incident. You did not kill anyone. Do you hear me? If anything, you saved hundreds today. You didn't- "

"Like hell I didn't!" Tony abruptly pushed Stephen away, tripping over his feet at the sudden loss of support but grabbing a nearby cross to keep himself from collapsing. "Those people would still be alive if I wasn't so.. so busy wallowing in my own fucking misery!" He snarled.

  
Stephen reached out to him, taking a tentative step forward. Tony instinctively took several steps backwards as if to get away from him and it really stung. 

"Listen to me-"

"No...no." Tony kept shaking his head hystericallly. "There were 3 kids in there, did you know? Three little bundles of sunshines that I burned away. _Me_. There's just this- this one thing I'm supposed to do but-"

"Hey, hey! Look at me." Stephen tried to catch his eye without touching him, giving him space. "You have to believe this. It was not your fault. You can not save everyone. You can only try. And you always do. You give your best everytime."

Tony chuckled bitterly. "That's just it... My best has never been good enough."

_Don't do that to yourself._ "We need to get you home. Then we will discuss all the reasons you're wrong about this, okay? But right now, you need help." 

Tony swatted his hand away. "I don't! I don't need it! I don't- I don't need your pity. Go away!"

Gently catching hold of Tony's wildly flailing wrists, Stephen sighed. "I'm not pitying you. Not by a long shot. This? What you're going through? This is something I understand. So just, just let me help you, okay? I'll go away later. I promise."

  
All the exhaustion and the tension seeped into Tony's bones as he sagged visibly and ceased trying to weakly hit Stephen's chest with loosely balled up fists, letting the sorcerer take some of his weight. 

"Ya 'just had to promise tha' you'll...go away...'s 'kay. They all.. do." He mumbled into Stephen's shoulder, breathing in his scent deeply. 

Stephen swallowed thickly. _How did they get here?_

A tiny phantom of whisper blew across the breezy night. _Maybe you just were destined to get here, now, this way._

"Well, it's what you wanted." He tried to keep his tone even, not for Tony's sake, no. Tony wouldn't notice the slight tremble in his voice now anyway. But for himself.

"Mmm nah." Tony said faintly. "I- don't 'lways want..what I say."

He could just ignore this. But he _really_ couldn't. "Well then, maybe try asking me to stay one day and see what happens. I could surprise you."

He could feel Tony's lips quirking up. "Don' you 'lways? Wizard." A beat. And a whisper. "Maybe one day."

_Possiblities_. "Come on, let's get you home."

  
As if the Cloak could literally read all of his thoughts, it took place behind Tony and secured itself around the man. The Cloak had been hovering around the two for the whole time, not really interuppting until now and Stephen felt tremendously grateful to it for the umpteenth time as he raised his arms to open a portal to the compound, the Cloak momentarily supporting a swaying Tony.

  
"-uh? Hey, ya're veryy warm. " Tony tried to turn his head to stare at the Cloak's collars which resolutely prevented him from doing exactly that. 

When Stephen tried to steer Tony into the portal with a barely concealed affectionate gaze at him, Tony once again stumbled backwards hastily, only managing not to fall thanks to the Cloak around him. It confused Stephen that this time, Tony was not flinching away from him, but the shimmering gold portal in front of him.

  
"It's alright. You just step through it and you'll be home." 

"No.. Don't." In the span of seconds, Tony's eyes were filled with a glassy haunted look. "Don' lemme go into the...the portal."

  
Watching Tony curl even farther into the Cloak, Stephen furrowed his brows and wondered. _Why would he-_

"-'s a one way trip. A wormhole in New York. I can't come back- this time..."

He closed the portal even before his brain could catch up entirely. Goddammit he had been such an idiot. Everyone knew what happened with Tony in New York. It was only natural for Tony to develop a lifelong phobia of portals after flying into one that led to space filled with hostile alien army with no certainty of coming back.

  
And to think that Stephen had randomly opened up portals around Tony all the damn time without being aware of how it could affect Tony. Tony had never let on any difference towards it before but Stephen figured that was just the expert indifferent facade Tony Stark had learned to don like an armour.

  
"God, I should've known." Stephen rubbed his temple. "I could've helped you with that before, you know."

"Mm.. You shou' go. Leave. Don' bother." 

"Mm.. No can do. Come on, I'll get you in a taxi." 

Stephen couldn't sense another living presence around except them, proving that Tony had come here all alone and even if Tony had managed to drive here somehow, he couldn't possibly drive back and Stephen is completely out of the question for that.

  
He felt a hand grabbing his shoulder and he instinctively caught Tony in his arms who was trying to get his attention. 

"Not leaving?" He asked, in a tiny voice. 

"You alone? No." Stephen chuckled. "Imagine the early Christmas the local villains would get if they find a hammered Tony Stark just trudging around the city in the dark."

"Hm, I love Christmas." Tony said wistfully.

They were out of the cemetery and standing by the road soon, Stephen looking for a taxi with a driver that was hopefully not some sort of supervillain that'd love to smother Tony in his sleep. 

Tony seemed to have other ideas. 

"No. Walk me home."

Stephen's eyebrows shot up incredulously. " _Walk_ you home? You can barely stand up straight on your own, how can you even expect to walk all the way there? 

"Like this." Tony slipped his right arm into Stephen's and leaned into his side. The Cloak hadn't bothered to leave Tony's body and to be honest, none of them minded it. 

"-'nd if this doesn't work, you'll find a way Merlin."

Stephen let out a breathy chuckle. "Drunk out of your mind and still nailing the nicknames."

"Ye'r an asshole."

"I thought I was a wizard, Hagrid?"

Tony's eyes widened as he stared up at Stephen and then decided to wheeze into laughter. 

"Oh my- Did yo- I-I made you make a Harry Potter refery- that." He waved his other arm around that was not tucked into Stephen's side.

"Reference." Stephen provided helpfully. 

"Uh huh. Come _on_. Walk with me." He tugged them both forward. "We've got a looong way to go."

And a long way they did go. Stephen walked and Tony clung onto him and it was perfect. They fell back to their comfortable back and forth counters and admittedly Tony's comebacks were a hell of a lot sillier than the usual. But- Stephen mused, _but_ he loved it anyways.

  
And of course Tony didn't make it through the entire trip on his feet. Maybe Stephen coerced the Cloak to help out or maybe he just used a little bit of energy from the cosmos or maybe he just held Tony close by his side most of the time because he just really liked it but the point was, they reached the compound nearly by the time Tony finally passed out with a last "Don' take advantage of me, Dr Wizard."

  
If you told Stephen Strange a few weeks ago that he'd absolutely love walking with an intoxicated Tony Stark for hours, he'd probably give you the pointed raised eyebrow of massive judgment which also low-key embodied ' _You're out of your nonexistent mind, please be joking'_.

  
But not now.

Also, Tony was absolutely not going to react well to all of this next morning.

  
Thankfully, Friday instantly swished open the doors recognizing Tony's vitals so Stephen mentally and loudly thanked the AI. 

"Friday, where is everyone?"

"Ms Van Dyne is on a family dinner with Mr Lang. Colonel Rhodes has not returned from California yet because Boss won't let him cut his vacation short. Vision has been out of reach for two days presumably visiting Ms Maximoff." Friday didn't sound so pleased about that one. Huh. "Peter dropped by and was very upset since he did not find Boss here. Also, Happy and Ms potts-"

"Got it. Everyone's preoccupied." Yeah, because that was what Tony had told him when Stephen had asked if he shouldn't call someone. 

"Nah." Tony had said. "They're busy. I don't wanna ruin their nights."

He crossed the corridor, on his way to the elevator while keeping a hold of Tony at his side even though the Cloak was already levitating him and was fairly more than capable of doing so without Stephen's help all the way. Stephen didn't know why he was doing it but he was sure he didn't want to let go of the warmth that only Tony seemed to radiate.

  
Thinking about Tony was also the main reason he didn't notice the faint click of a weapon. 

"I suggest you let him go."

Huh. Looked like the Spider was in. And not the adorable one, but the deadly one. _Oh, Tony would've loved that one._

"I would, if that gun of yours actually scared me or if he wouldn't fall face first if I did." He replied coolly. 

The indifferent mask of the Black Widow didn't slip, as expected. Neither did the gun raised straight at Stephen's head. 

"Tony?" She called out before getting back to Stephen. "What did you do to him?"

"Stopped him from sleeping in the dirt. You weren't a given the last time I was here. Now you are, and he relapsed. So, should I not ask you, what you did?"

Natasha didn't move but the slight twitch of her jaw told Stephen that she was wondering the same thing. 

"Look, you can ask Friday about me and get it all over with. He needs to sleep, preferably not vertically all night." 

Friday confirmed him as an ally. And as Spiderman's friend. Natasha still didn't trust him as far as she could throw him but she did stride forwards and took Tony's sleeping form upon her with exceptional ease.

  
Stephen instantly felt the coldness he had been trying to avoid settle into his body, missing Tony's warmth and presence like a limb. The Cloak surprisingly didn't put up a fight and instead settled around Stephen's shoulders which naturally earned another piercing stare from Romanoff. 

"I can take it from here. Thank you for bringing him back." She nodded and left. _With Tony._

"If you hadn't interuppted my information relay, you would know that Ms Romanoff had decided to come back to the compound two hours ago." Friday said. 

Stephen stared at the door they disappeared through for several moments before making his exit. _Yeah, better not get too into it anyways._

He didn't pay attention to that silent warning inside his head when he checked up on Tony sometime later because he just _could_ , because- _mystic arts._

  
He also didn't follow that warning when a piece of paper with cursive writing floated down from the thin air onto Tony's pillow, leaving one last essence of the sorcerer  behind for that night.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay this chapter physically hurt me to write.
> 
> Sorry, no Peter. :( dammit I miss him. 
> 
> I could've made Stephen a little more showy in front of Natasha, but he's kind of caught up in his own head for the moment. 
> 
> I HAD to get Nat here because MCU snatched that TonyNat friendship out of my hands and I ain't letting that sit.
> 
> (Sorry for the angst? Did I nail it? Or was it bad? Please tell me?)
> 
> On a completely unrelated note: I got in a new college!! Yay me. Whew. Should I prepare to die because of the upcoming avalanche of work and studies.


	8. Walking On The Edge Of My Soul

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter gets excited. Tony gets a surprise. And Stephen gets visitors.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A super duper HUGE chapter to make up for my absence. 
> 
> Seriously guys, this is like, 7k+ please forgive me for this torture.

 

_'Staying wasn't an option as I hardly think that'd be appreciated and I wasn't really asked to._

_Well, maybe you were a little too busy passing out so I'm letting it slide._

_Maybe one day._

_But you owe me one for last night._

_Saturday. I have something to show you._

_Walk with me?_

_See you.'_

  
"Oh my God."

"Huh??"  
"Oh my God! Have you seen this?"

"Mmhm."

"Of course you've seen this! It was right here! But where did this come from?"

"Mmm.."

"Do you know who this is? Did something happen last night? No, clearly it did. Why is it typed out in a cursive print instead of just a handwritten note? Is it some kind of a professional business...person? Oh my god, is it Ms Potts? But she wouldn't write to you, would she? She can just- drag you out herself- "

"Uh huh.."

"Will you please _please_ tell me who this is from? Are you gonna go?"

"Kid."  
"But they didn't even give you a time! Or a place! Does that mean-"

"Kid. Please stop."

"I mean- aren't you at least supposed to set a time and a place for a date? I do think that's-"

" _Peter_." It was louder than before. "I have an adult headache and I am _dying_."

  
Peter stared at the mound of blankets infront of him under which Tony Stark's miserable self was buried from head to toe. That was exactly how Peter had found the man when he had first stepped into the bedroom a few minutes ago. 

  
"Sometimes I seriously wonder how much of a kid do you think I am." Peter exclaimed.

"I don't know, very?"

"I'm 16! I know what a hangover is! You don't have to call it an adult headache like you're trying to pacify Cassie! Even she knows what it is!"

"No, she doesn't." Came another mumbled reply. "If you know what a hangover is, then why are you attempting to kill me? Don't talk."

Peter waved around the tiny note held in his hand like a prize. "You don't understand! This is important! I need to find out who left this on your bed!"

  
Oh yeah. _That_. Tony had woken up once hours ago, only to find that note plastered to his cheek in his sleep. After a lot of scrambling and squinting, he had managed to read it alright, but even before he could gauge his reaction to it, he remembered why he had woken up in the first place and so an extended trip to the bathroom was spent that ended with him hurling his insides out.

By the time he came back to bed, he only had the energy to grab the little note again and throw it on the pillow beside him so he wouldn't squash it before passing out again peacefully until an overexcited puppy had hopped into his room and then increased hopping once he had discovered the object of interest.

  
"And I need to find out why you're bouncing on my bed, _seriously, stop that, my insides are shaking_ , instead of being in school." The pile on the bed spoke.

He missed the exasperated glance Peter directed at him. "Because it's Saturday! And you have been out of contact for like, forever! Even May was worried! She's gonna so lecture you today. Good luck with that by the way."

The Tony shaped heap stirred slightly. "Wait, May is here? What? _Why_."

"She drove me. She was gonna come up but then we got intercepted by- get this, the Black Widow!" Peter started bouncing again, making Tony feel like he was on a fucking trampoline. " _The_ Black Widow! She's back! Can you believe it?!"

"Totally can't."

"She is! And now, May's doing something with her in the kitchen and oh my god, I've never met her as, like, you know, _me_. And it was so terrifying but so awesome!" Peter paused to take in a breath. "Oh, and they sent you these. And coffee."

  
Peter shouldn't have been surprised at the instant reaction the word "coffee" had on Tony. His head peeked out from underneath the blankets and for the first time since Peter arrived, he attempted to move and sit up, making grabby hands towards his life saver drink

  
"Kid, you need to learn about priorities." Tony was already halfway through inhaling the scalding hot drink after downing the aspirins with coffee instead of bothering with water. "This, right here, goes above everything else. So the next time, definitely start with this."

  
Peter had the chance to wave the note right infront of Tony's nose this time. "No, the priority here is this one! You still haven't told me who it's from! And when is your date? It's already 12pm!"

Tony totally did not burn his tongue because that'd be embarrassing and ungraceful and he's Tony fucking Stark.

"There is no date. _That_ is not a date. You're mistaken if you think that is a date. Because that, that thing is _no way_ to ask me on a date. And there is no reason for him to ask me out on a date. So no, that can _not_ be a date."

Tony really should stop saying the word 'date' right about now.

Peter seemed to think the same because he grinned. "Say 'date' one more time and I'll believe you."

"It is _not_ one!"

Peter's mixture of a struck, amused and excited expression seemed to relay the exact opposite. "Sounds like a date to me." The kid literally grinned wider than it should be possible. "And you really _really_ care about it! Wow, I don't think I've ever seen you this worked up before!"

"Yes, you have. Everytime you decide to swing into the middle of a battle you're not supposed to be in."

Peter continued as if Tony never spoke up.

"And thank you for narrowing down my list. It's a he! Do I know him? Is it one of the Avengers? Eh, I don't think so. Ohh my god. Then is it that badass king of-"

"What day is it?" Tony asked, staring at the note that somehow ended up in his hands again.

"I just told you! It's Saturday so-"

He was interuppted by Tony scrambling off the bed, nearly falling off in the process. "Son of a bitch! That's today!"

"Well done, Boss. That is another 100 for the little-"

"Fri, just don't. I can't deal with two of my kids this early. Especially when I'm royally screwed. And hungover. And screwed."

"Yeah, Fri. Can't you see he's just too nervous about his date with....Who did you say it was again?" Peter crossed his fingers hoping Tony would fall for that.

Instead, he just got a glare. "Nice try. And it's a paying back thing for fuck's sake. He helped me with a thing. And I'm not even going for that. Stop jumping about it."

"I'm just going to add the money." Friday, _now was not the time._

  
Peter lifted up his hands. "Okay. Fine. But you might wanna take a shower first before this payback thing happens." He waved at Tony's disheveled state. "I mean, it's not like you look bad or you smell, but you really really smell."

"Shut up. I smell like Gucci." Tony threw back but already moving towards the bathroom.

"There's that new Thor ice cream in the freezer. So go away and bother ice cream Thor."

Peter perked up. "You have that new flavor? Oh my god isn't it the best thing _ever_?"

Tony shrugged. "Wouldn't know. Gave up dairy. Those are for you."

Peter's gasp could be heard from miles. "So you haven't tasted any of them? Not even the Stark Raving awesomeness? Oh my god, no that's not happening. You shower, I'll arrange the ice cream tasting party!"

Peter nearly hopped away but paused abruptly.

"Oh and...Mr Stark?"

"Yeah, kid?"

"You know it wasn't your fault at all, right?" Peter's voice too quiet compared to a minute ago.

Tony paused in front of the bathroom door and hummed in a non committal way, before slipping away from the kid. 

  
It was when Peter was in the middle of gathering the last variety of ice cream tub from the freezer, _seriously, Tony stashed each of the Avengers flavours in here for him,_ he froze. Not literally, chill.

"Friday, did- Did Mr Stark just call me his kid?"

"He did, twelve minutes ago. Congrats for finally noticing, Peter."

Peter didn't detect the sass behind Friday's words because he was too busy marveling at the new found confirmation.

 

                                       ***

  
_"So...you going for that date, Mr Stark? I think you should."_

_"It's just a meeting and no, I'm never going there."_

Tony blinked up at the huge doors of 177A Bleecker Street and suddenly he wondered how the fuck and why the fuck did he even get there.

 

He didn't exactly remember when he decided to show up at Strange's door with hands full of takeouts that was supposed to be dinner because yes, Tony spent this whole time pondering whether to come or not and dinnertime was nearly over. Okay so...he didn't know if he was too late or if Strange even wanted to go to some sort of a restaurant with him which was highly unlikely because there was no way Stephen meant for this to be an actual date so takeout seemed to be a good option at the time.  
But now? Not so much. Tony shouldn't even _be_ here, this was a bad idea and he should turn tail right this instant and-

  
The door slammed open. Tony might've jumped a foot into the air, caught off guard in his internal crisis. 

"Hiya. So you're that...Wong guy, aren't you?"

The man whose name Tony was fairly sure Stephen had mentioned was Wong, only stared impassively at him without moving a single face muscle and frankly, it was kind of getting on Tony's already fraying nerves.

  
"Right. So. I'm Tony. But you probably already knew that. You were a great help that day in Manhattan. But then that's kind of your job, isn't it? Dealing with crazy creatures from another dimension, apparently from hell."

Still silence. "So..Is Wong like, a standalone name? Like Vision? Or Gandalf? Voldemort?"

Tony swore Wong somehow managed to internally roll his eyes at him. On the outside, his face was still passive.

"Really, no first name? Or wait, is Wong your first name? Come on, help me out here."

"He's inside."

Finally. So the dude did speak.

"Yeah.. I'd rather not go in...." Well. Wong had already turned around and left, keeping the door ajar for Tony to enter. "....that freaky museum."

Oh, fuck. This was a mistake.

"You people really need to learn about welcome mats." Tony called out, stepping inside the sanctum.

Wow. This place was.. A lot huger than it looked from the outside. And okay, this was totally not the surroundings Tony Stark usually belonged into.

Wong disappeared, definitely mystically, leaving Tony to wander in amazement on his own. He half expected some freaky creature to come out from the dark or some ancient looking artifact to blow up in his face before he could even find Stephen. It kinda thrilled him. 

  
Ironically, it wasn't Stephen he found first. He had became wildly curious when he found a thin door shimmering in the light. It seemed to change colour and texture every few seconds, holding Tony's attention solely on itself. He would've touched it hypnotizingly but a light tap on his shoulder made him whirl around instantly and he relaxed when he met the frighteningly expressive collars of the Cloak fluttering.

"Oh hey! Are you doing well? For a cape? I hope so. Can you find your annoying wizard for me?"

Tony hardly noticed the Cloak's lack of agressive behaviour towards him as he followed it out of the room to another hallway.

  
None of the weird choice of interior decoration really mattered when he found Stephen. He could hear the sorceror's deep voice muttering something in the room he stood on the doorway of. Tony opened his mouth to send a snarky remark about Merlin going crazy when he heard another voice respond.

  
Huh. Stephen wasn't alone.

  
It was a woman. An absolutely beautiful woman with dark chestnut hair falling around her shoulders and a smile to die for. The two inside the room were talking quietly and there was untouched food on the table clearly meant to be their dinner. There was a certain kind of familiarity between the two that Tony discovered he totally did not like. Or expect.

  
See. He knew coming here was a mistake. At least it's not too late to-

"No."

  
Tony had to work really hard to stop flinching at the voice and stop himself from moving backwards again, away from Stephen because fuck damn wizards and their ability to turn someone's life upside down.

  
"He's busy. I'll come by another time. Or never. Take the food." Tony held out the containers as if it was compensation for letting him go.

Apparently to Wong, who had materialized right behind Tony again when he tried to leave, it wasn't enough.

"No." Wong repeated. "You are not leaving after I had to listen to that blasted idiot bitch and moan all day just because you didn't show up." Wong grumbled.

"He- what-"

"Tony?"

Stephen stood on the doorway staring at the two of them, although his eyes never left Tony as he noted Stephen actually seemed to be more pleased than surprised to see Tony there.

"Hey, Merlin." The grin that spread on Tony's face was an automatic reaction. He couldn't possibly control it. "I was just telling your humorous buddy here that you guys need better manners and professional cleaners and I gotta go."

  
Stephen frowned. "Go? What do you mean, go? Is there an emergency? Is it Peter? But I would've felt it in the connection if it was him. Do you need me to-"

"Whoa, whoa. I need to you take a breath. There's no invasion emergency. Just a.. Bad choice thing. I make those. A lot. So you should just, you know, forget that I was here."

  
Stephen looked even more confused and all of a sudden, Tony was at the receiving end of a familiar smack on the back of his head.

"Hey! Not fair! What was that for?" He glared at the Cloak that was crowding him against the door, making sure he couldn't bolt if he wanted to. And oh, he really really wanted to.

  
"Like you don't know. Morons." Wong grumbled and pushed past Stephen into the room. Stephen, for his credit, was still gazing at Tony as if he was trying to look into Tony's very soul and holy crap, that penetrating look should be illegal.

"I think you should go back inside. Someone's-"

A head peeked out from behind Stephen, making Tony bite his own tongue.

"Stephen who is- Oh." She stopped and her eyes widened comically when Tony appeared on her view.

  
"Wow. Tony Stark is paying a visit to you, Stephen. Because apparently that happens. Something you wanna tell me?"

The woman didn't seem overly hyped to see Tony, only purely surprised as anyone would be. Well. At least she's not the 'throwing themselves at someone for their reputation' type. It's good. For Stephen.

  
Stephen exhaled and rolled his eyes fondly, stepping back to let her stand by his side. They look good together, Tony mentally noted.

"This is Christine Palmer. She's.. A former colleague back from the hospital-"

"Oh please." Christine lively injected. "It won't hurt you to call me as what I am, Stephen." She turned to Tony and his heart dropped for some weird reason. This was it. She was gonna say it. "A friend. I'm his friend. The only friend he has who's not a kid or a magician."

  
Ooh Tony liked her.

  
"I like her." He grinned. "You're cool. And you deserve a medal for keeping up with this cranky wizard."

"Tell me about it."

"In that case, I deserve one too! The biggest one there is." Wong's muffled voice came from the room.

"Okay." Stephen cut in loudly. " If you're done complaining about me, can you at least move on from this?"

"Oh, this is just the beginning, Stephanie. We're gonna have so much fun!" Tony's voice held all the cheery joy a child could get in a candy store and it didn't help that Christine grinned even wider and high fived him. "But I guess it can also carry on over dinner. Those delicious smells are making it impossible to resist."

  
"Ooh you brought food too!" Christine took over the takeout boxes from Tony. "I'll take those. Until now, I was the only one bringing these idiots food everytime I come over. The more, the merrier."

  
She shuffled over to the table where Wong was already too into a tuna melt to care.  
Neither Stephen nor Tony moved away from the doorway. Stephen was back to gazing at Tony and Tony awkwardly tried not to acknowledge it.

  
"You came." Stephen's voice was low, a near whisper.

"Yeah.. Well, you wanted me to." Tony rubbed his neck. "I mean, that's what I _think_ you wrote in your terribly vague note. Seriously, you gotta be more specific."

"Sounds like you understood me perfectly though, so what's the use?"

"I definitely did not think it was like, a family dinner of some sorts. I mean, it's not like I wouldn't show up if it was, because those two are great-"

Stephen shook his head. "No. It's- Christine has to leave for a medical seminar tomorrow. She'll be gone for a while so she suddenly  came by to visit. Thankfully with food."

Stephen paused before changing his tone.  
"Besides, after the whole day passed, I didn't think you'd actually show up."

Tony needed something to play with in his hands. A screwdriver. A spoon. Anything really. Instead, he stuck his hand in his pockets to stop the desperation to run his fingers through that perfectly done hair of this gorgeous man. And damn that loose curl over his forehead. 

  
"You lured me in by promising me a magic show. It better be good." Tony demanded.

Stephen's lips twitched. "I did no such thing."

"Oh yeah? So that important thing you gotta show me is not a fireworks display? Damn, I'm disappointed, Strange."

" I never said that it wasn't either." Stephen replied in a nonchalant voice.

Tony raised his eyebrows before snorting. "Cryptic asshole."

"So... We're on a first name basis now, are we, Stephanie?" Tony smirked, referring to Stephen's earlier exclamation of his name. To be honest, Tony had liked it. Tony would also very much like to hear his name from Stephen more often.

  
"Don't push it. You can't even manage to utter my first name. Like, ever."

"I totally can, Houdini."

"You know it's rude to whisper in front of others, right?" Christine's voice called back.

  
Tony shot a bedazzling smile at Stephen and slipped past him into the room. "Okay, my lady, shall we begin the most entertaining evening of today's Let's dig out the dirts on our resident wizard over Chinese food?"

  
"He floats in his sleep." And that information came from Wong who, for all his credit, when Tony and Christine turned to look at him, remained solely focused on his food.

  
"And he would like all of you to stop the Stephen Strange gossip club and just eat your fucking dinner." Stephen grumbled, grabbing a container of food himself and taking a seat on the ratty couch.

"That's a perfect name! Thanks for the idea, Stephen." Christine snickered.

Tony looked seriously at Stephen. "Wong just gave us a very concerning information. So. You need someone to tie you down to the bed? Cause I think that'd solve it."

  
No one noticed the momentary faint red that flashed across Stephen's ears because the very next moment he was smirking. "Why, do you volunteer?"

  
A loud gulp from Tony, an irritated huff from Wong and then the thump of a flying napkin at Stephen's face- occurred at the same time as Christine hid her smile behind her glass, but not her raised eyebrows.

  
"If it wasn't for these," Wong held up an egg roll for emphasis, "I'd have thrown you two morons in the dark dimension and be done with it."

Tony lit up at the sight of the egg rolls. "Hey, Wong-sie."

"No."

"Seriously, you don't even know what I was gonna say."

"No, you are not allowed to call me that. And no, you are not getting the egg rolls."

Tony huffed, muttering to himself, but was soon distracted as Christine struck up another too energetic conversation with him about how he knew Stephen and how they hadn't killed each other yet. 

  
And if Stephen looked at the eccentric man of science propped against the couch casually, not looking the slightest bit out of place in this sanctum as if he could all too easily belong there, in the world of mystics arts and smiled just because he just did that a lot when it came to Tony Stark, no one had to know. And if he slipped his own egg rolls into Tony's container when the genius in question wasn't looking, then no one had to know that either.

  
Well, no one except an observant friend who had a secret but knowing smile stuck to her face all night.

 

                                        ***

 

It was a rather clear and beautiful night of October. Well, it was almost fall. The sky remained dark and strikingly navy blue with glittered stars splattered across it above the city that never sleeps. Tony loved the slight chilly breeze blowing across his skin. He had never been a nature person in the slightest but he had a feeling if they kept meeting in the future like they've been these past few weeks, he'd become a lot more acquainted with the nature's gorgeous aspects.

  
But Stephen kept silently walking next to him.

"What are you doing?"

"Belly dancing." Stephen deadpanned.

"Not that it wouldn't be extremely fun, but you have to tell me at some point."

"What makes you think we've reached that point??

"Goddamn wizard, always acting all mysterious." Tony murmured, although he didn't cease in strolling alongside the sorcerer.

  
After dinner, Christine had taken her leave, promising another visit after a month when she would get back from Geneva. Wong had disappeared once again into the museum of a mansion and Stephen had decided to take a walk with Tony by his side through the West 4th Street.

  
Naturally, Stephen didn't clarify where they were going because when had he ever been simple as that?

"You do know I can just turn around and leave any time I want?" Tony grunted.

"Will you?"

Tony knew he wouldn't. Judging by Stephen's little satisfied smile, he knew too. So Tony didn't answer. Instead, burying his hands deeper into his jacket, he pretended not to notice their arms brushing together as they walked relaxedly, side by side, as if they had all night to themselves. And yes, they actually did.

  
"So." Tony cleared his throat, watching the golden leaves fall around them. "Dr Christine Palmer, huh? She's amazing."

Stephen hummed immediately. "Yeah, she is. She has always been there for me, even after- after my career as a surgeon was over."

Tony nodded. He knew how hard his lost past still was for Stephen since their talk in his lab.

  
"You guys seemed to hit it off frighteningly well. This screams disaster for me." Stephen commented.

Tony grinned. "Well we did decide to continue the Stephanie Gossip Club so you might wanna be prepared for some shocking revelations."

"Can't wait." Stephen said in a flat tone. 

Tony kicked over a stone leisurely. "You two. What happened?"

Stephen brought up one hand, gloved once again, flexing his fingers and letting out a few golden sparks out of it. Tony noticed he had never seen Stephen without those gloves. The sorceror would always be careful not to forget the gloves everytime.

  
"We are simply not meant to be anything other than friends. We both know what our duties are. And.. I've been a monumental jerk to her for years. She doesn't deserve this- crazy life. God knows how much I already hurt her." Stephen said in a quiet voice.

  
_This_ , Tony knew exactly how it felt. The life people like him and Stephen led, it's danger and hurt waiting in every corner and Tony would agree in a heartbeat that others like, Christine and Pepper and even Peter shouldn't be involved in this kind of madness.

  
He responded in a light tone. "Aren't you a monumental jerk to everyone in general, Strange?" At the sight of Stephen's eye roll, he continued. "Your douchinees kinda crosses off with mine so I guess it evens out. Don't feel bad about it."

  
"I really wasn't." Stephen deadpanned, but glanced at Tony. "You're being awfully nice, emphasis on awful, did you hit your head earlier today?"

  
Tony shrugged. "Nah. I'm assuming you know about Pep and me. It made the press have several field days."

  
"And ten dozens of magazine issues." Stephen mumbled. Upon Tony's amused glance, he snorted. "Wong has quite an enriched collection of magazines like you wouldn't believe."

  
"Glad to know you go through them to keep upto my life." Before Stephen could start his protest, Tony plowed on. "Yeah, so, what I'm saying is that, Pepper also couldn't take me flying off into the horizon with no assurance to be back well. And she's right. It's not fair to her. It wasn't as dramatic as the reporters made it look like though, she surely didn't demand half of my soul."

  
"I met Ms Potts at the party. She certainly didn't seem like the soul collecting type. Those tend to have smokey forms, black eyes and a tendency to kiss to seal a soul deal." Stephen said, with an indifferent tone.

  
Tony took a moment to throw a weirded out look towards Stephen and laughed. Stephen was smiling already but the sound of Tony's impromptu laughter once again made him halt his own features to inspect the genius's face. _God, he was beautiful in this moonlight and in the middle of yellow leaves falling all around them_.

  
"Please never fail to do your job. I don't think I still have a soul left in there somewhere to be honest, but I do not want to face one of those actual soul kisser bastards."

  
"You do have one."

  
Tony glanced at him again. "One what?"

  
Stephen turned slightly to look into Tony's eyes when he spoke this time. "A soul. I know because I can feel it."

  
Tony opened and closed his mouth several times, seemingly lost for words. "I'm sorry but you can what? You can feel my soul? As in, actually feel what it is like? It's not some sort of a compliment thingy, is it?"

  
Stephen stopped walking all of a sudden, turning his body to face a startled Tony who had barely skidded to a halt behind him.

"What are you doing?" The words automatically left Tony's mouth again as he watched Stephen stare at his face, barely several inches away from it in the middle of an empty park.

  
"Souls, Mr Stark, have their own unique signatures each." Stephen started in an absurdly formal way. "And one can see into the souls with enough knowledge and practice and proper training."

Tony frowned. "You mean wizards like you and Wong can?"

Stephen nodded once. "We can, yes. But only when we want to. It's actually quite useful for figuring out someone's intentions or tracking a person by their signature. Sorcerors' radiate a complete different level of aura around them, which resonates with their souls, thus making them easier to find when it needs to be."

  
Tony was listening to Stephen intently. It was the first time the sorceror was explaining something mystic arts related properly to him and Tony wanted to understand everything about this.

  
Maybe it was the paying too much attention to Stephen's words that Tony didn't notice him moving his hands. He did notice it at the same time a strange glow began to erupt around them. Tony looked around him wildly but couldn't find the source of it anywhere.

  
Stephen was doing that thing with his eyes again. Staring intently, Tony mused this time, probably literally looking into his soul.

"Wow that's- interesting but where's this-"

"But you," Stephen spoke again in that damn deep, rumbling voice. "You seem to be an exception here too."

Tony shrugged, the mysterious glow around them was getting brighter but if Stephen didn't seem concerned by it, it probably wasn't anything to be worried about. Could be another one of his magic lights. 

"Exception as in, you can't see into my soul like the others? That's not surprising. Told you even if I had one, I probably tainted it to black or something. Or destroyed it. Can you even do that?"

  
Something akin to exasperation and disbelief slipped into Stephen's ridiculously beautiful grey blue eyes. "You can be so oblivious, and thick, I never would've believed it."

  
And then Stephen stepped away from Tony with another abrupt motion of his arms and Tony gasped. Because now he could see the lights turning clearer and brighter, illuminating several feet circling around him because yes, this light- this glow was radiating from Tony's body itself.

  
"What the fuck, Strange? Is this some kind of a joke? Stop this!" He shouted with a strained voice.

  
"Calm down." Stephen was at his side again, grabbing a hold of his arm, stopping him from spinning around wildly. "I'm not doing anything. This is all you."

  
"Cut the crap, Strange. I don't have the ability to glow in the dark and in- in- okay _why_ are there so many colours?"

  
It was true. The lights dancing around Tony's entire being was a mixture of crimson red, flaming golden, tantalizing blue with silver streaks around it. It was beautiful beyond imagination. But it was also ethereal.

  
Stephen smiled. Tony decided that he would have very much loved that soft smile on the man's face if he wasn't lit up like a damn Christmas tree at the moment.

  
"I merely made your soul's aura and signature visible to you, Tony." Stephen said in a soft voice matching his smile. He was also looking at Tony with an unconcealed awe that made a shiver run down Tony's spine.

"This is what your soul truly is like. Vibrant. Radiant in it's own beautiful way. Each of these colours represent a side, a part of your soul and I have never seen a person's soul, or aura hold this many colours before. You are an exception, Tony. Not because you lack something in you, but because you possess too much."

  
Stephen stopped talking, going back to gazing at the sight before him as Tony now tried to process this with a bewildered look on his face. Stephen decided, this- Tony Stark gleaming so luminously with all the colours that were only the proof that this man was so achingly perfect but flawed in his own way- it was the most beautiful sight he would ever set his eyes upon, even in his years of pursuing mystic arts, seeing the unseen, knowing the unknown.

  
Tony held his own shaky hands before him, not daring to say anything, not looking up at Stephen, just thinking, watching the light swirl and dance around his hands. This is nuts.

  
"It's a phoenix."

Tony looked up at Stephen dazedly. "What?"

"Your aura. It takes the form of a phoenix. The signature of your soul. Quite an eccentric one, I have to say."

"You can't be serious with this-"

"Do you know what a phoenix is legendary for?" Stephen asked with such an intensity that Tony just forgot for a moment that this guy had just turned him into a glow in the dark object.

"Oh, I don't know, not really existing? Being a made up fairytale creature in children's stories? The options are endless." Tony said sarcastically.

  
Stephen didn't look much phased. "Just because it doesn't exist in your world, doesn't mean it can't symbolize what it's meant to."

He inclined his head towards Tony, more like the huge wings like shapes the light took around Tony. "Phoenix is the symbol for rising from the ashes. They're mythical, yes. But they also portray a being powerful and special more than anyone. Someone who can come back and rise up from anything."

Seeing the overwhelmed  look on Tony's face, Stephen lightly added, "They also spontenously catch on fire and die so I think that's only where you relate with this bird. It's more likely to happen than anything else."

  
Tony let out a strangled gasp and fuck, he had so, so many questions but he just needed to process this madness first.

Okay. That's enough.

"That was.. Wow. A phoenix. It's not real but, cool. What's yours?"

"Not everyone's take a definite form."

"But yours do."

Stephen quirked an eyebrow. "Why do you think that?"

Tony shrugged as nonchalantly as possible for someone being the source of such a beautiful mystical sight.

"Call it a hunch, a damn good one at that, but I just know you have one. Shaped soul or whatever you call it. You're powerful enough for it."

Stephen's eyes showed mirth. "Nice of you to compliment my powers. I try." At Tony's narrowed stare, his smirk only got wider. "I'm not telling you mine, guess we'll see if you find out some time in the future."

_Fucking wizards._

  
"I don't think anyone would take it well if they saw a person sprouting out wings made of light and all lit up. Damnit Strange, it's the middle of a fucking park!" Tony said, looking around.

  
"They're used to seeing aliens and gods every other Friday nights. I hardly think they would be surprised." Stephen replied nonplussedly. "But if it makes you feel any better, they can't see us. Took care of that."

  
It didn't. But Tony let it go for now. It was the least of his worries.

"Is it a unicorn?"

"Haha. It's not."

"No, really. I think it'd suit you. Maybe you're a big softie on the inside who loves cuddles and hugs and kisses."

Stephen flicked an eyebrow. "Know a lot about unicorns, do you? Ever heard of the horn they can pierce your insides with if you mess with them?"

"Is it a confirmation that your soul is low-key a unicorn? Peter's gonna love this!" Tony grinned broadly.

"Do shut up."

"So that's how you're trying to track that guy Maddie? Following the traces of his energy...soul...signature?" Tony asked once Stephen had decided it was about time he let Tony get back to his normal non glowing mode. Well, glowing was normal for him when he still had the arc reactor but not like this. This was phenomenal.

  
"That is part of the tracking process, yes. And it's Mordo." Stephen replied, once again strolling.

"Yeah, him. So.. Like you said before, he also knows about this....method. And he's a threat. So I decided to find him for you." Tony walked up next to him casually.

Stephen froze. "You found Mordo?"

"...Almost. Marked him, more like. I figured he'll be looking out for magical hound dog methods considering that's all you people would try, not tech ones. So Fri found the general vicinity he's in and is monitoring his movements so we'll get a definite location soon enough."

  
Stephen suddenly looked restless. "I have to go after him."

Tony tugged him by one arm forward, sending a look at him. "Relax. I'll know where he'll be within a day and we'll get him then."

"We?" Stephen quirked an eyebrow. "You don't need to deal with this. I told you Mordo's our-"

"And I told you he also became my business when he attacked my people." Tony cut him off in a firm voice. "You can't stop me from going after him with or without you. So better not try. Capiché?"

  
Stephen let his eyes wander around Tony's face for several moments before conceding wisely. "Fine. But when you get vertigo or stuck in a dimension upside down because of our "magic stuff" don't blame me."

  
"Good thing I can fly so an upside down world won't be a problem." He flashed a triumphant grin.

  
"I think your friend is going to want you there for his surgery. As far as I can help, he won't be too thrilled to only have a stranger around. So it'd be better for everyone if you refrain for going on a tour in another world for the time being."

  
It took Tony a few moments to respond, not because he didn't know what Stephen was talking about, but because he was too astonished and taken aback. 

"Rhodey. You're- You'll be at his surgery?" Tony stopped walking again and stared.

Stephen got a few steps ahead before realizing Tony had stopped walking and turned around. "That is the plan, yes."

"But I thought-"

"I thought too." Stephen grimaced slightly. "But then I actually thought about it and realized that helping someone is more important than my sad attempt at mourning the past."

  
Tony didn't know what to say. And that literally never happened with him. He was someone who always knew what to say, however fucked up the situation was. But Stephen was overwhelming Tony to the point he no longer knew what to expect or what to do.

So he blurted out something else that had been bothering him.

"What do you want?"

Stephen looked momentarily puzzled. "I don't understand."

"No, _I_ don't understand _you_." Tony was now flailing his arms to press his point. "You keep being this- this ridiculously intriguing wizard and act like you care so damn much for- for us-"

  
Despite being taken aback, Stephen stepped towards Tony. "It's-"

  
"You saved my kid from dying that day. I was so terrified when he went off grid and I should've thanked you then for-"

  
"He was injured in the first place because of my mistake so I think it's rather unnecessary to-"

  
"And then you became such a good friend of his and look out for him.He absolutely adores you-"

  
"I mean, it's Peter. Of course I'd-"

  
Tony rambled on. "Now you're saying you'll help out with my best friend's surgery even when it reminds you too much of- of everything that happened-"

  
"Stark, I think you need to calm down." Stephen tried to stop Tony's frantic babbling in vain.

  
"-Somehow you showed up on a fucking graveyard in the middle of the night and found me-"

  
"Actually, it was Levi who found you-"

  
"-absolutely trashed but instead of just leaving me there to rot, you fucking walked me all the way home because I wanted to? I don't-" Tony let out a hysterical, disbelieving huff, running his hands over his face. He was getting worked up, it's never good for someone with the most fucked up heart in history.

  
Stephen stared at Tony a little too sharply, figuring out the reason behind Tony's impromptu freak out over his actions.

"I did what anyone with a moderate sense of morality would do. Which includes not leaving an intoxicated person who probably has more enemies than I can count on my four limbs in a cemetery." He stated calmly.

  
There was a bitter laugh and it sounded so hollow that Stephen wondered how much this man had been fed lies after lies.

"See, that's just it, Strange. No one would do what you did. Even if it was the peak of human morality, they still would be disgusted and just pity me. No one would drag me from hell. Not without a reason."

  
There was an eerie silence followed by Tony's sentence except for the man breathing out in huge pants.

When one of them spoke, it was Stephen and it was stated not as a question but as a fact.

"You think I want something from you."

  
Tony tried to shrug nonchalantly, avoiding looking into Stephen's eyes because he knew they would once again hold that blazing gaze and he wasn't sure he wanted to face it.

  
"You don't have to invite me over or- or be nice and have all these soul bonding conversations with me. You can just- just ask for it, you know. I owe you. For Peter's life, most of all."

  
"Just-" Stephen's face contorted into one of exasperation as he grabbed Tony's arm and pulled him towards a bench beside them. Surprisingly, Tony didn't put up a fight and just slumped onto the bench, glancing up at Stephen warily.

  
"Will you believe me if I said I don't want anything from you?" Stephen crossed his arms and asked, already knowing the answer.

  
"Everyone wants something, Strange. It's just the matter of how long they'll wait for it. So I'll say no." Tony smiled wryly. It was no mystery that Tony must have been used for personal gains numerous times before, knowing his generosity and crave for a family. Friends. Love.

  
"You're right." Stephen conceded, making Tony hunch forward even more.

"Huh. Didn't take you that long. But then I always figured I'd get on your nerves one too many times." Tony let out a tired sigh. "What is it?"

"I wrote you. That you owed me. And it isn't for Peter. Because that boy is very dear to me as well and finding him that day was the best thing that ever happened to me." He smiled warmly, thinking about the teenager who'd apparently snagged a permanent place in both of the stubborn men's hearts.

"So you owed me for dragging your drunk ass back home last night and I asked for exactly what I wanted. You already gave it to me. We're fair and square. No need to draw out elaborate theories about my actions." Stephen concluded, his jaw set confidently, stance of a man who's only stating the obvious truth. 

  
"Gave you what?" Tony asked, puzzled, momentarily forgetting about why he had been stressing out.

  
"A walk. Out in the wilderness." The bastard grinned at the gaping look on Tony's face.

"Sit the fuck down, you absolute giraffe. My neck hurts from looking up at you." Tony grumbled, but clearly relaxing instantly.

"Oh I'm sorry,  I forgot what a tiny little squirrel you are, all curled up there. My sincerest apologies." Stephen smirked widely but sat down beside him nonetheless.

  
Things got back to normal after Tony let out a indignant gasp and called Stephen an asshole and Stephen responded with an equally insulting remark.

  
Stephen didn't have any ulterior motives and despite trying to make himself not trust this sorceror completely, somehow, Tony knew he already trusted him when he decided to introduce all of his children to the man back at the party.

  
"You're going to need help. About the relapse." Stephen mentioned after some time. They didn't tiptoe around this particular topic until now, they just didn't address it.

"I know." Tony hummed, watching the leaves swirl lazily in midair. "I could use a good counsellor."

"No, you could use someone who pours all your liquor down the drain right in front of you and doesn't let you think up ridiculous conclusions and fall too deep into them. And also annoy you enough to forget about drinking." Stephen countered back.

  
"So, someone like you?" Tony asked cheekily, to which he got another smirk back.

"Someone insane enough for the job."

"Definitely sounds like you."

"Then I guess it could be me."

They looked at each other and promptly grinned like the absolute idiots that they were.

"What was it that you wanted to show me? Or was that what the whole soul thingy was back there?" Tony asked eventually.

"No." Stephen straightened up. "I'm going to show you how one particular action of mystic arts happen and you're going to get familiar with it."

Tony scowled. "And what, exactly, did you have in mind for this impromptu magical training session?"

Tony's eyes narrowed considerably after the sorceror did his usual thing with his hands and the said object appeared in front of them.

  
_Portals_. Stephen apparently wanted Tony to get familiar with fucking portals.

  
"Did I throw up on you?"

"No."

"I should've thrown up on you."

"You might get the chance to do so now."

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just fyi, Stephen's soul doesn't actually take the form of a unicorn that's nuts. They're just joking.  
> We'll see his on a later date because of.... Reasons I can't enclose at the moment ( that'd be spoilers) 
> 
> And yes, Stephen's trying to get Tony to deal with his fears of portals. My boy would be strutting in and out of portals in no time now. {Since his hubby prefers it;) }
> 
> •
> 
> SO  
> I'm terribly sorry. I know I disappointed many if not all of you by disappearing.
> 
> There was a Harry Potter quiz here and HP is the first universe I fell in love with. So I was rereading all 7 books this month for the quiz coz it meant a hell of a lot to me to win this. 
> 
> AND IT WORKED. WE ACED THE QUIZ AND OUR TEAM BECAME THE CHAMPIONS AND I'M SO HAPPY. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy this? And please let me know what you think about this chapter. And thank you for previously commenting. It means the world to me!


	9. Moments Of Change

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What do you call it when two people are destined to be there for each other?

 

They don't seek out each other at first, even if their entire beings kept yearning for it. It was too frightening, too pulling- this feeling. Still, they just kept finding one another, because- maybe it was another game destiny was playing. A destiny neither of them ever believed in.

  
One of them would stumble into the other at the deli that sold the best sandwiches around that Peter wouldn't stop gushing about and somehow got the both of them craving it often.

One of them would claim to be too busy to meet up for- yes- a random all too easy mission, but would keep the resolve of not falling down a spiral of affection and something that scared him for about seven minutes before calling the other back.

One of them would give in to Peter's puppy dog eyes and adorable little voice and just let the kid drag him wherever he wanted and somehow, end up in a cafe with the other and a very talkative spiderboy between them.

One of them would find himself immersed in the middle of a fight when, with a sarcastic remark and flashy entrance the other showed up unexpectedly.

They had so much to say, so much to pretend that everything was fine but they didn't realize they never could pretend in front of one another. Not for long. Not enough that the other wouldn't catch on and just _understand_.

 

  
Stephen's body gave a jolt as if a shock wave had been pierced through him.

It was 3:42 am and he wasn't sleeping. Because he never could sleep anymore just like that.

But the magical sensation that made him sprung onto his feet and momentarily disoriented from the sudden movement after hours of sitting down and reading, it was no mystery to the sorceror. Because it was his own magic, one that he had woven in with great care and precision.

  
"Levi, come on! We need to go."

A blur of red, sensing his urgency, rushed and clung to him as a flaming portal appeared right away and within moments Stephen stood in the middle of a dark room only lit up by the thin stream of city lights coming from outside.

Stephen's focus instantly zeroed in on the figure shaking on the bed at the corner.

  
_Oh Peter._

  
He gently put his hand on the still sleeping but quivering boy's forehead. Peter was making these gut wrenching sounds of pain and squirming inside the bedcovers as if he was trapped inside his nightmare and couldn't find a way to escape. Stephen's heart ached for this kid. So young and he's already suffering so much.

  
Just as he began to ease Peter's distress with a faint golden glow between his hands, the doorknob turned and Stephen only had a moment to make himself unidentifiable.

He illusioned himself so that the new addition in the room couldn't see him. His presence here right now would be a difficult one to explain. One they wasn't their first priority right now.

 

May Parker crossed the room with hurried strides and was now caressing Peter's hair gently, mumbling into his ear to calm the boy down and wake him up without startling him much. 

And it worked.

Peter slowly ceased thrashing around and stopped whimpering out the horribly painful noises, only breathing heavily as May continued to hold him and run her fingers through his brown locks, placing comforting kisses on his forehead. Tears were trickling down Peter's closed eyes. _He was crying in his sleep._

  
When Peter began to show signs of using his spider senses, starting to shoot awake, Stephen moved over to touch him once, making the kid ease down once again and relax into his aunt's embrace. He needed rest. 

  
It was long before May had finally looked up with a weary sigh and straight out the window on the right side of the bed, with a nod of her head. Following her gaze, Stephen wasn't really that surprised to see the figure silently hovering just outside the window who nodded back at May.

  
It all looked so routine like, this happened often and May would just know that _he_ would be here everytime it happened.

And it was exactly like that.

"You know, I was gonna blast your ass off for being in that room if Fri hadn't recognized your heat signature on the right moment." _He_ said, the helmet making his voice have that familiar mechanical tone but still something felt off in his tone. 

  
_Figured_. Stephen let his illusion fall. He had hoped to slip past Tony but that wasn't gonna happen so he joined Tony outside the window, turning his gaze on the man who was maybe still looking on through Peter's window. Stephen couldn't tell because Tony wouldn't remove the helmet.

  
"A logical action, that would be. I approve." He agreed.

"Explain. Why the hell were you being so creepy?"

_Despair. Pain. Regret. Guilt. Helplessness._

"I... felt him." He started, making Iron Man's armour turn slightly in midair. "On his birthday, I gave him a-"

"A shiny bracelet, yeah I know. The kid wouldn't stop showing me that thing. It glows from time to time, he was so damn fascinated with it." _So was I._

Stephen inclined his head. "Yes, it is the core of an magical enchantment. So that I can know whenever he's in danger or distressed and see if I could be of help."

  
Tony didn't say anything. He didn't have to. Stephen knew he understood it was in a way the same as Tony's AI programme, to watch over Peter. Only- one was magic, the other was science.

 _One was Stephen and the other was Tony_.

It was them who were with Peter all the time in their own ways.

Stephen slightly winced internally at the thought of one formidable May Parker who could school all three of their asses.

"I thought- " A rasp of choked voice made Stephen frown and move closer to Tony carefully.

"Stark?" He tried. "Are you alright?"

  
The hand covered in the scarlet gauntlet shot up to the chestplate like an instinct, the whole armour suddenly moving frantically like the man underneath was falling apart.

  
"Tony." Stephen now proceeded to grab the armoured arm of Tony Stark. "Get the damn helmet off, you're panicking!"

Tony didn't listen to him. Stephen shot a worried glance at the apartment, knowing that the dreamless sleeping enchantment he used should work for hours and Peter won't wake up to this disturbance.

"Stay with him." He whispered to the Cloak who instantly flew off back into the room. "Oh for Merlin's sake!"

Simultaneously, he grabbed Tony, well, the Iron Man suit, and dived forward through a portal, landing onto a familiar ratty couch together. 

  
"Okay, you're in the sanctum now. No one else is here. It's just you and me. You can get out of the armour now. It's okay."

No result.

"You need fresh air. Tony- come on!" He looked around frantically. Technically, he could use magic to get the suit off Tony but that meant ripping Tony off from his suit with unapproved magic and Tony would _never_ forgive that. Stephen would never do that to him.

"Uh.. Friday? Are you there? Can you just-"

"I'm sorry, Dr Strange but you don't have the authorization to manually override the suit. Boss has to do it." Even Friday sounded distraught.

 _Of course_. 

He put his hands on the either side of Tony's helmet, making sure they were face to face.

"Look at me. And listen. The suit doesn't have to protect you right now, nor anyone else. No one is in danger. It's suffocating you. Let me help. I can help. _Please_ , get this off. _Tony_."

  
Tony must have murmured the order because the next moment the suit retracted behind him, the pieces flying off to a corner and Tony hunched forward into Stephen who instantly caught him around the back.

"It's okay. Peter's okay. Nothing happened to him. You just breathe in with me. Tony. Stop thinking and just focus on breathing."

  
Stephen's deep intake and exhalation slowly calmed down Tony's frantic breathing. They never moved, clinging onto each other as if it was perfectly normal for the two of them to do so.

This wasn't a full blown panic attack, Stephen noted. There was something else... 

"I was terrified." Tony's hoarse voice shook. It was still beautiful. _Tony_ was beautiful, even when he was falling apart. It was such a strange phenomenon. Tony Stark.

"I was terrified- he - he usually has these nightmares and- and I'm always there when-...but tonight Karen had indicated another unknown -signal.. in his room- not not the authorized ones -....and his vitals were going crazy and I- I thought - I thought someone was-"

  
He didn't have to finish it. He couldn't, really.  
He pressed down his chest as if it was burning him from the inside and Stephen's touch was the soothing relief he had been seeking. 

"I'm so sorry." Stephen unconsciously tightened his hold around the gasping man. "I shouldn't have- I didn't really think it through. I thought he was in danger or snuck out for patrolling so- I'm sorry I should've-"

"Not your fault." Tony's voice turned steady but quiet and his breathing had become quite normal by now, although still a bit ragged like it was hurting him to breathe. "You didn't know my paranoid ass would freak out over something like this."

  
_I should've known._

  
"You're back. You're alright." Stephen whispered. He wondered if Tony realized yet how much entwined their bodies had become by now- with Tony's head buried in his shoulder and body flushed together to provide all the warmth he needed. He selfishly hoped he could have a few more moments until Tony realized it and pulled away from him.

  
And Tony did. Scrambled away from Stephen and was up as if nothing had happened. Stephen's eyes followed Tony's form until he blinked and snapped out of it, following pursuit and standing up from the floor, shaking away whatever feelings that had stirred up inside of him.

  
"You, Strange, are a man of zero self preservation instincts."

Stephen quirked an eyebrow at both the sudden change of atmosphere and the hypocritical statement. "Pot calling the kettle black."

Tony waved him off. Stephen had noticed Tony kept rubbing his chest unconsciously.

"You don't just manhandle a suit that has enough firepower to take out a continent. What if I mistook your actions and fried you?"

"To be honest, that didn't really come to my mind. And to point it out, you didn't. Make a Strange fry, that is."

The faint amusement appearing on Tony's face was worth it.

"Besides, I can handle you just fine." He added with a sly grin, trying to lighten the atmosphere. 

"Oh, is that so? Why don't you come by the compound sometime and we'll see who can't handle who." Tony said pointedly.

_Was that really a-_

"I'm sure my training room is enough even for your advanced magic tricks, I made it to withstand Thor, well, tried to anyways, but I can make some more upgrades, if you want-"

 _It wasn't_.

"Oh, you're talking about training together."

Tony looked like Stephen just mentioned the most obvious thing in the universe. "Duh. I'm positive I'm gonna kick your ass, sorceror."

"Sure, those pajamas are _reaally_ making me feel threatened." Stephen smirked, feeling way too smug.

Tony looked down at his Spiderman pajamas he had on when he had bolted stepping in his suit earlier the night and suddenly wanted to disappear. This was really not the classic Tony Stark look he wished Stephen to see him in and it didn't help that the said sorceror kept grinning like that.

  
"What do you know, you... Cardigan wearing good boy looking bastard. Forgot your dramatic robes in the dry cleaning?" Tony weakly delivered as the sorceror too, seemed to forget to don his signature clothing tonight.

 _Damnit, Stephen in that black cardigan was way too sexy. That shouldn't be allowed_.

  
Stephen snorted, making his way towards the door that led to the tiny kitchen he only ever used for making tea.

"Maybe keep working on it."

"Yeah...it's not a good time." Tony frowned at the messy desk strewn all over with books filled with runes and spells. "So, pulling an all nighter?"

Stephen leaned against the door, humming in response. "I don't really sleep. Much. Comes with the job description."

Tony looked disgruntled. "You don't possibly sit around guarding this place all day and night, do you? That's hardly necessary. And ridiculous. Did I mention unnecessary?"

"No, it's not that... Using mystic arts take a lot of things away from you. Sometimes sleep becomes one of those things. A master has it worse." Stephen grimaced. "I can't sleep without a potion or a spell anymore. And even if I ever do fall asleep without that, might not wake up again the next morning."

  
Tony made a strangled noise of acknowledgement, playing with a round crystal ball he found on the desk that easily fit into his palm. It was beautiful, looked like it was holding the stars inside of it.

  
"Wong should take over sometimes. Work in shifts, you two." Tony spoke mildly. "Where is he, by the way? Sleeping off all this racket?"

"Wong doesn't live here, Stark. He has his own duties in Kamar-Taj."

"You live in this- huge depressing place all alone?" _I thought Wong stayed here._

Stephen shrugged. "No. I have the Cloak. Wong drops by all the time. And Peter alone is enough to wake up the mansion for days."

"No wonder your bedside manner is blown to hell." Tony mumbled, as if these new informations troubled him a lot.

 _Pete was right. He was very lonely_.

  
Leaning back and pushing open the kitchen door, Stephen slipped through it. "And for that one, I'm not going to ask you if you want some tea."

 

"I'm sorry you had to face another damaged soul tonight. I'm sorry you had to deal with a broken mess you didn't sign up for. I'm sorry I keep falling apart again and again... "

Tony buried his face into his hands, flopping down on the couch like a doll whose strings had been cut.

Stephen wasn't in the room. That's why he could say those words out loud.

  
But this was Stephen's home.

In the kitchen, the sorceror leaned his forehead against the door and closed his eyes, something burning in the back of his throat.

"I'm sorry I can't tell you how I'm just as damaged."

Only one of them could hear the other.

"And I'd sign up for a thousand lifetimes if it meant having you two."

The other remained oblivious.

 

  
                                      ***

 

"No, no, no- that's not a-"

"Oh my god, this is glorious- I mean, no, it's so unfortunate, oh dear -"

  
Stephen narrowed his eyes dangerously as he contemplated which one was worse. Getting doused in gas from a fire extinguisher sprayed by everyone's favorite one armed bot, the moment he stepped into the lab or watching as two of his most faithful companions glowed from glee and amusement at the incident.

  
Peter was still wheezing in laughter just behind the culprit, who had let go of the fire extinguisher by now and was lowering it's only arm like a lost puppy (if it was even possible for a bot but seeing Dum-E, yes, it was possible).

  
The most shocking part was that the Cloak had chosen to drape itself around Dum-E and seemed to flutter in amusement at Stephen's expense at the hand of it's newest friend.

  
Tony, on the other hand, was a mixture of delighted, exasperated and proud.

"Well, would you look that. I guess Dum-E thought you needed some background smoke to make your entrance look more dramatic."

They only got a glare in return.

"Don't take it personally, Houdini. It means Dum-E cares about your well being so he's just making sure you don't spontenously catch on fire there.. Right, Pete?" Tony elbowed Peter who nodded furiously, except the grin on his face and the laughter in his eyes totally betrayed him.

  
What surprised everyone present in the lab, even the Cloak, was Stephen choosing to kneel in front of Dum-E and whispering something to it and then procuring a ball of pure golden light out of his hands and giving it to the bot.

  
"Damn, he's really going for it." Peter awed.

"What?" Tony asked distractedly, busy watching the sorceror interact with his oldest creation. 

"For you." No one heard Peter's reply except for the camera in his hand as Tony was now focused on Stephen once again.

"He's not a dog, you know."

"No, but he is happy."

"No, Happy's my forehead of security."

Peter snickered. "It's sensitive for Happy, Mr Stark. He hates when you do that."

Looking at Dum-E and Cloak play catch with U and Butterfingers joining them now, Tony smiled a little. 

"He's just a little grumpy, doesn't hate it though. Hey Strange, heads up!"

What Stephen instinctively caught flying at him seemed to be a ball of silver metal but as soon as it touched his gloved hand, the metal started spreading gracefully all around Stephen's forearm arm upto his elbow, covering his forearm with a layer of sheer metal encasing.

  
He examined the impressive transformation of the metal with unveiled interest. "That's new."

"And awesome! Right? Mr Stark has been developing these for his new suit and holy shit, that is the coolest thing I've ever seen!" Peter was literally jumping in excitement.

  
"Alright Parker. Thanks for the perfectly useful description." Tony clapped Peter on the back, smiling at the teenager, well, more like, the camera glued to his face.

"That, is some of the proud members of my nanotech family. It's nice, isn't it? A lot more efficient."

Stephen _liked_ it. This was another one of the brilliant creations Tony's genius mind had procured and Stephen was fascintated by the rippling of the metal as if it had a life of it's own.

  
"It _is_ awesome." He echoed Peter's earlier statement, looking up at Tony's face which morphed into a grin. "It's brilliant, actually."

"Really? Compliments from he-who-hates my guts? Did I finally impress you with my tiny little baby bots?" Tony grinned widely.

"Just take it or I take it back."

"He doesn't hate your guts, Mr Stark! He just doesn't know how to express that he _reaally_ likes your guts!" Peter chimed in, catching both of the adults off guard.

"Uh..what?" Tony looked between a very petrified looking wizard and a kid who looked half proud, half regretful of what he had just said.

"Nothing. Why do you always have that thing stuck to you? You gotta get tired of it by now." Stephen hastily pointed at the camera at Peter's hand which he showed no signs of putting away anytime soon.

"Yeah.. The kid's got a new hobby. It's getting really out of hand." Tony said skeptically.

  
Lately, Peter had developed an unhealthy obsession with photography and constant video recording. _More_ than the usual. Tony had found him make Vision strike classic comic hero poses so that he could make a montage of it. He even arranged a photoshoot of Dum-E. Tony point blank refused to be his model. 

  
He also in some miraculous way, managed to make Natasha agree to let him record a ballet dance of her up in the studio Tony had made for her back in the day. Tony was flabbergasted when he found out about it because Natasha would never let _any_ of the Avengers even roam around that floor when she danced, let alone film it. Upon asking Peter how he did it, the kid had just shrugged and said he asked really nicely. _Adorable puppy dog eyes._

  
"I'm doing God's work, Mr Stark. One day, you two will be grateful for these. It's an epic story in the making captured by yours truly, friendly neighborhood Parker." Said dramatic Parker flashed a proud grin at the two immensely confused adults.

  
"Do you get what he means?" Tony whispered to Stephen.

"Not in the slightest." Stephen brought his nanobot encased arm up. "How do I call them off?"

"Oh, not so fast. Kid, scram. Weren't you supposed to finish that chem project today?" Peter groaned as Tony continued. "And you, give me your hand."

Tony held out his hand to Stephen who raised his eyebrows higher than usual, an interrogative look evident in his eyes. Tony resolutely stared back as if he had all the time in the world to wait him out.

  
Sighing, Stephen let his arm fall on top of Tony's outstretched hand whose fingers lightly curled around his wrist. Still looking into his glittering hazel eyes, Stephen supressed a shiver at the thought of Tony actually touching his scarred skin that he himself hated so gently but he doubted _that_ was ever going to happen. Tony was just checking out his creation right now, right?

  
"You know, you wouldn't make a half bad Iron Man for Halloween. Might as well consider it."

"Yes, because I've got the goatee for it. But unfortunately, I'm afraid I can't make myself look so tiny."

Tony pointed his other index finger at him. "First off, no one else has the perfect goatee for it. _No one._ And secondly, fuck you, It's called being compressed."

"Mmhm. It's adorable."

Tony stuck out his tongue at Stephen like a pouting child and deliberately stepped on Stephen's toes, making him hiss out in pain and swear profusely. 

"Oh hey, I was just being adorable." Tony flashed a seemingly innocent smile before turning his attention back to Stephen's arm, inspecting the nanotech while Stephen inspected the rich brown shades in Tony's hair, his petty 'step on it' action already forgotten. 

  
"Yes." Tony whispered to himself, his eyes bright and full of delight. "Yes, it works."

Maybe it was Tony being so close to him, holding his hand, the tanktop clinging to his body like a reverence or the maddening smell of grease and metal that always seemed to stick with Tony or the way too expressive and beautiful eyes- that distracted Stephen from asking what the man was even talking about or notice anything unusual about his hand. _Of course his tech worked._

  
And he kept talking.

" - I mean, I still have yet to start on the synthetic structure, damn, Bruce would've been exactly the perfect person to help me out with that- but yeah, uh... Strange?"

"Hmm?"

Tony finally seemed to notice the tense crackling energy around them as he went silent, looking up and locking eyes with the sorceror. It was crazy how they could just drown into each other just like that out of nowhere. 

  
Tony's hands moved over Stephen's, lightly tracing over it starting from his elbow, the nanobots parting ways like rippling water, making Stephen look down at it hypnotizingly. When Tony took his light caress tease upto his gloved fingers, Stephen barely had any resolve left not to just grab his hand right then and there.

  
He didn't notice if it was happening up until now, but _now_ , as Tony's hands hovered over his and the nanotech retracted, he became acutely aware of how his damned hands were shaking like crazy once again.

  
Warmth filled his insides as Tony gathered both of his hands between his palms, steady enough to cease the trembling but not hard enough to make him feel any kind of pain in his overly sensitive nerves. Stephen thought he could literally never feel like this. He hadn't let anyone touch his hands, clothed or not, _this_ gently, this closely after the accident.

  
"See?" Tony whispered, looking down at their entwined hands. "Isn't this better?"

Stephen swallowed because he didn't trust his voice right now. He spoke after watching their hands that fit together perfectly for some more moments. That now also had orange sparks and pulses cracking between them because Stephen was hopeless.

  
"Maybe. But this is a temporary solution and possibly a one time one."

"Well, maybe we can arrange for it not to be. It's not upto anyone else." Tony breathed.

"Why, Mr Stark, are you offering to hold my hands whenever it becomes inconvenient?"

Tony let the tiniest bit of mirth play into his eyes among a sea of sincerity. "Maybe."

The orange fizzle of magic between their hands crackled loudly and promptly  intensified.

"Tony- you don't-"

  
A metaphysical ball whizzed past their heads and not less than a second later, the resident red devil zoomed after it, choosing to make it's way through the middle of the two men, making them stumble away in the opposite directions.

There was a distinct cry of 'Oh come on!' _that wasn't from either of the adults_ before Dum-E came whirring after a moment, abashedly inclining it's hand... head before taking off after his friend in chasing the ball.

  
"Wow, they really are taking the game seriously." Tony laughed quite unconvincingly, turning away from the sorceror.

"Hey I got a question." Piped up a younger voice once it became apparent that the two men were not gonna speak up anytime soon about whatever happened.

"Do you two just like, forget that there might be others around or do you just- totally not care?"

Tony wheeled around in disbelief at the kid and a little flustered, well, for Tony Stark, he was.

"Do you _ever_ listen to me? Didn't I tell you to go to your lab-"

"Well, I did leave! But then I forgot my backpack so I came back and- well, I'm just really happy that you two are getting along so well. Much more than I expected to be-"

"Is that camera still in your hand?" Tony sounded scandalized. "Did you- Give me that!"

Peter backed away so fast Tony shouldn't even dream of catching the kid. "NO! Once you give a gift, you can't take it back! I'm gonna tell Ms Potts!"

"Oh you're gonna be so grounded!"

"Please, Dad, no! Let me have this!" Peter screamed, continuing his wavering away from Tony, froze after he realized what he said, and then ran for it again.

And Stephen witnessed Tony Stark freeze mid-stride in shock and overwhelming happiness because _his kid just called him Dad. What does he do now what's the procedure. Is this a normal thing now oh fuck-_

"Well, that was long overdue." Stephen smiled. 

 

                                      **

 

Colonel Rhodes's surgery was a complete and smashing success. But that didn't make Tony fretting over it all any less. He was driving the surgeons, the nurses and Rhodes himself- nuts.

  
Admittedly, Rhodes was very apprehensive when Tony first introduced Stephen as his medical overseer for the surgery.

"I told you not to do something crazy, Tones. This? This reeks of crazy." Rhodey said, eyeing Stephen up and down.

"I told you to ditch the costume!" Tony mumbled to Stephen.

"Come on Rhodeybear! Trust me. Strange has a bit of a long story but he's the best one out there for your case. Give us this one chance."

And Rhodey did. Because it was Tony and Tony Stark didn't do things by halves.

Because he trusted Tony.

Strange, on the other hand, he didn't. Not yet. Not even after his surgery was over under Stephen's watchful command. 

 

"He trusts you." There was no one else in the hospital room except for Stephen who was stood in the far corner poring over a chart, making sure the medications were exactly as he had directed. They were only alone because Rhodey kicked Tony out saying he was gonna give him anxiety with his excessive pacing.

  
The clipboard lowered itself from where it had been floating so that Stephen could get a direct line of sight to Rhodes. The patient in question eyed the board and the display of magic warily, still not completely used to it.

  
"Maybe. He's.. very giving."

"He does." Rhodes reaffirmed. "A lot."

And Rhodey knew because he had been watching. Watching Tony. Watching them. Ever since he returned from his vacation, he noticed a new static of life flared within Tony. The Tony he had last seen, had lost the sparks in his usual bright brown eyes after the accords and after....everyone left. 

  
But something changed. Tony was far from being healed but he was smiling, actual smiles, not the pretense one Rhodes had been tired of seeing years after years. His eyes were getting back their long lost sparkles and it was all happening around this one man.

  
Rhodes didn't think either of them knew of this change.

"And I completely trust Tony with my life. But not with his own." Rhodes continued, "He's self destructive to the point of no return and I haven't been able to do anything about that all these years."

Stephen stayed silent, knowing that Rhodes wasn't finished.

"I think his misplaced trust is also a part of that. Like you said, he gives. He gives his heart and soul to everyone, but all he gets in return is pain. And I have been so useless because I couldn't stop him from getting hurt just because he put his heart in the hands of wrong people."

"I have not given him any reason to mistrust me yet and I don't plan on ever doing so." Stephen softly replied. It wasn't a placating statement for the patient, it was painfully true, every bit of it. 

"Or else I'll have another ass to kick included in my already 3 feet long list. I was in the military. I know painful." Rhodes pointed firmly.

Stephen inclined his head. "I'll keep that in mind. But I doubt Mr Stark and I are hardly going to get anymore acquainted now that your surgery is over. This was our only deal. We may not cross paths anytime soon again."

  
Rhodes scrunched up his face, looking affronted. _Is this guy being serious?_ _These two are literally dying to see each other everyday a little bit more but says that-_

"Dear God, there's two of them. I can't handle two dumbass geniuses. One was too much for me."

"Did someone mention me? Because the genius is here!" Tony slid into the room with a dramatic spread of his hands.

Rhodes muttered louder upon seeing him. "Oblivious dumb bastards. I can't deal with these. I'm gonna go live in the mountains-"

"Uh.. Doc, did you break my bestie?" Tony blinked slowly at Rhodes.

Rolling his eyes, Stephen let the clipboard fly over to Tony and smack him on the head, smirking when Tony let out an indignant squeal. "His drugs are kicking in. Out. Let him sleep."

  
"Oh, so Rhodey, my sunshine, my honey bear, sugarplum, do you want me to-"

"Just get the fuck out, Tony before I throw this bouquet at you." Rhodey grumbled good naturedly.

"Hey! I specifically custom ordered those get well flowers, appreciate it please-"

He ducked a flying pillow just in time and Stephen promptly turned him around by his shoulders and dragged him out of the room.

  
"Geez, you'd have thought he'd be a little more lovey dovey with all those drugs in his system. What a wasted opportunity." Tony whined.

Stephen snorted, already proceeding to get out of the scrubs he had on for the checkup. "They'll be starting his physical therapy tomorrow morning and you won't need me for that. And if he has any discomforts, Nick will be around. He's good."

  
Tony snapped his eyes up from watching the movements of the sorceror like a hawk. "Wait. You're leaving?"

He paused. "That was the plan, yes."

Tony looked like he wanted to say something. "But- I thought- " He inspected Stephen's questioning stare, looking for _something_ before running a hand over his face.

"Yeah, I guess you should. Got a job after all, don't you? Protecting the reality and all that jazz." He said flippantly.

_Yes. Exactly._

"Star'! Staaar!" 

Tony's tired and disappointed face broke into a smile as he excitedly whirled around and caught the running child in his arms with ease.

"Hey, lil' munchkin! I was just gonna come and visit you!" His smile somehow went up 100 watts and became incredibly soft.

 

Stephen studied the girl in his arms. She was about 5 years old with dark brown hair held up in two ponytails and big green eyes. She was exceptionally thin and clutched onto Tony like a prized teddy bear. He knew who this was. 

Two days ago, Stephen had walked out of Rhodes's room after his last test before the surgery only to find a certain brunette curled up on the hospital bench outside with an unknown child sleeping on his shoulder.

"You do know that you can't just steal children from the hospital, right?" Stephen had commented, resulting in Tony hissing at him to lower his voice.

  
And then Tony had told him about her. Her mother was admitted in this hospital for a month with diagnosed brain tumour and she visited her everyday with her grandma.

Her name was Lily.

Tony had found her crying alone on that bench that day and Stephen marveled at how wonderfully this shy, reserved girl had taken to Tony. He made her laugh while he was worried to death about his best friend's surgery. He just had that power to make every child he met happy.

  
_Tony Stark himself was the marvel._

  
"Your friend?" She asked in a low voice.

"Yes, he's fine now. He's sleeping. This is another friend of mine. The one I told you about. The doctor." Tony turned the girl towards Stephen but she seemed very shy as she only peeked at Stephen for a moment then buried her face into Tony's shoulder.

  
"She calls you Star." His gaze held an adoring look, fixed onto the two before him.

Tony smiled bashfully. "Yeah. Well, she kinda eliminated the K from my name."

_But it's perfect for you._

Because ultimately, Tony Stark belongs to the stars. Because Tony Stark _is_ the brightest star the universe has ever seen.

  
And...Tony wasn't smiling anymore, for some reason. "We don't wanna hold you up-...I know you already did way more than it should be asked of you -"

Stephen wanted to tell him that it didn't matter. He didn't wanna leave anyways. He'd just be alone back in the sanctum. There would be no Tony.

But he stayed silent.

"Just- thank you. You know, for this. For Rhodey. For- everything." Tony said, eyes averted from Stephen, fingers playing with Lily's hair absent-mindedly.

Stephen cleared his throat. "Well then, I guess I deserve to have this." Tony met his eyes curiously. "Hungry?"

Tony looked surprised. "But don't you have to-"  
"I'm sure the dimension is not going to crumble into dust within another hour." This betrayed his only excuse. Why was he doing this?

"That's what I keep telling you!" Tony looked positively gleeful. "In that case, I left a kid and a magic carpet screaming for ice cream in the parking lot. Care to join us?"

  
Oh yeah, Stephen couldn't very well bring the cloak with him to the hospital so he had left it with Peter. The Cloak, for one, didn't have any complaints about it and Peter had basically scrambled up ready for a bunch of mischief already planned out.

  
"You guys were already going out for ice cream, weren't you?"

Tony transferred Lily from his hip to the floor, grabbing her hand tightly. "Yes, I just came up to check on Rhodey then get you and Lily. I got the permission from her grandma. She loves me." He grinned widely.

 _'And I said I was going to leave but he didn't try to stop me_.'

  
Alright. A trip to the ice cream parlour with an eccentric genius, a master of the mystic arts, a smart hyperactive teenager, a magical artifact and a 5 year old child- what could go wrong?

  
"Do you think you can make her a few balloon animals?"

"I don't do that, how many times do I tell you-"

"Come on! It's gonna make her so happy!"

  
As it turned out, Stephen really had a talent in making balloon animals.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Geez, these idiots are already a big happy family what else there is to say. 
> 
> Oh yes, someone please let them know 'cause they're hopeless. 
> 
> (And yes, I have an obsession with Tony Stark being a Dad™ to all the kids idk, that happens)
> 
> I wanted to write a bunch of scenarios with them but this was needed and it got out of hand so here you go. 
> 
> THANK YOU FOR READING, BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE.


	10. Of Staying, Leaving & Losing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The one where a lot of things happen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! 
> 
> Hope you don't completely hate it?   
> Yeah see you.

  
Tony was greeted by an ominous silence once he set foot into the Sanctum. 

It was weird. The doors never seemed to open just at Tony's presence before, Stephen or Wong or even the Cloak would always be around to let him in, unlike today, when the door just kinda swung open before Tony could even knock. 

"Okay..." Chalking it upto the sorceror's newest magical addition, Tony sauntered into the painfully quiet sanctum. 

"Strange! Could you stop being mysterious and come out for a moment? I got something to show you!" He directed his words at the general direction of the studies where he usually found Stephen all the time. He pretty much only seemed to live in the study and the library in this huge place. 

Tony dropped the two bags onto the small, low tea table, huffing at getting no answer. _Is he out?_ Then should Tony be able to get in if he was out? Should he go find him?

  
Something fluttered onto Tony's right cheek, startling him mildly. He turned his head to find an absolutely beautiful butterfly fluttering up and down, it's wings creating a harmonized flicker, doting on Tony for some reason. 

"Hey, little guy." Tony didn't resist as the butterfly decided to perch upon his finger, watching in fascination as the shocking electric blue veins created ripples around it's glowing golden wings. It looked like this butterfly used to radiate pure golden light from it's body but now the blue light was slowly wrapping it's veins all around it. It was, in short, breathtakingly beautiful.

  
"At least someone's here to greet me. What're you doing in this mansion of silence? It's depressing, right?" _It doesn't feel so depressing when Stephen's around, why was that?_

The butterfly just flapped it's wings once more, settling down on Tony's finger as he felt another touch on his cheek. "Oh look, you got a friend!"

Now Tony had two new butterfly fans, one kept dancing all around him, not a very still one in nature as the other seemed content to just rest on his finger. 

"You're cute. And you're like Peter." He directed the latter remark at the one flapping around his head. "And I feel like you're magical. Are you guys supposed to glow? Is that normal? Like, distant cousins of fireflies? Yeah?"

"They seem to like you more than me."

"A common occurrence, don't feel bad about it, wizard." Tony grinned at the familiar deep voice of his favourite sorcerer. _Um, no, let's erase that last part._

He turned around. "And what took you- what the fuck-"

Tony's first instinct upon not seeing Stephen in his usual human body was pointing his hand which was by now encased in his gauntlet straight at the floating half body 6 ft above the ground. Can't blame him though. No one was supposed to react normally after seeing a transparent ghost like body upto the waist just casually floating and talking to you as if everything's just perfect.

  
The Stephen shaped upper part of this body raised his hands placatingly. "Hey don't shoot that. That mirror behind me will suck you into it if it breaks and you're not gonna like what's inside it."

"What the fuck?" Tony wildly repeated. "Is this- Are you- _Shit_!"

Suddenly Tony didn't bother with this absurd figure anymore and instead turned and ran inside Stephen's study. With his luck, he found what he was looking for just onto the couch. 

It was Stephen. 

Tony instantly leaned over Stephen's unconscious _actual_ body and pressed two fingers onto the pulse point of his neck. Upon feeling the faintest bit of his pulse, Tony finally breathed.

"Friday- scan him. Is he- is he-" _dying_? 

He felt like his heart was gonna stop. 

"I'm not dying." There was that goddamn ghost thing again. 

"Shut the hell up. You- there's- you're bleeding _everywhere_ and-and the pulse is barely there and you're floating around like a fucking-"

It was true. Stephen's body was battered and bruised all over. He must've stumbled into here and just passed out on the couch. Blood was seeping through his robes and staining the couch and the huge gashes on his forehead and cheek didn't exactly make the whole thing look any better. 

Thankfully the Cloak had wrapped itself up around Stephen's middle as if holding together as much blood as it possibly can inside of his body. Tony wanted to cry.

  
"I do admit you've caught me at a reasonably bad moment-" 

"What do we do, Fri?" Tony seemingly ignored the ghost-like Stephen.

"His pulse is weak because of the blood loss and I guess extreme physical strain. There is no mortal danger as of now. But I suggest stopping the blood flow should be our first priority, boss."

"On it." Tony caressed the Cloak, getting it's attention. "Can you tell me where's the first aid-?"

The Cloak, understanding Tony's request before he could finish and fully trusting Tony with Stephen's body, zoomed away. 

"There really is no need to do that. I need some time to regain energy then I can do it myself. Just calm-" The transparent figure tried again. 

Tony glared at it- him, for the first time since he popped up. "Yes, I'll just leave you here until you've managed to bleed out to near death like you had planned and go on my merry way, is that it? Is that what you want?" Tony grinded his teeth while simultaneously pressing down onto Stephen's abdomen where the Cloak left and the wound seemed to be. 

"I've dealt with worse alone. This is not going to kill me. I calculated the probabilities. I am a doctor, remember." He said again.

Tony didn't know whether to punch him or smack him. _Like that makes this any better._

"Tough luck. I'm not gonna ask about the deal with you being a fucking ghost and wandering around. But I'm also not leaving before I fix this so you better help me get this damn thing off or just shut up and let me do it." Tony snapped, fumbling with the endless belts on the sorceror's robes. 

"Turn the circular part to the right." The floating Stephen gently said. 

Tony finally managed to get the belts off all the while muttering under his breath, _what exactly is the purpose of these fashion accessories really_ , just as the Cloak patted his arm, carrying a box with it's far end. 

"Thanks, buddy." Tony patted the Cloak in return and it hovered over the back of the couch, ready to help if necessary.

  
Tony was bad at this part. Like, really _really_ bad. His emotions were threatening to spill all over and his hands were shaking. He winced at the sight of the wound just below Stephen's ribcage. It looked like something sharp punctured through his skin and now the blood just wouldn't stop gushing out. He quickly pressed down a clean cloth from the box onto the wound. 

" _This_ , is not bad?"

"They did miss any of the major organs."

Tony spared another glare at Stephen's peculiar transparent form. 

"Haha. How unfortunate." He said sardonically. He peered under the cloth and noticed the blood flow had stopped. "Well, did that."

"Haha. How brilliant." Stephen countered. 

"You know, it's really unnerving that I'm trying to put your skin back together while you're hovering over me and keep annoying me." Tony stared at the needle. _I have to sew his skin shut._

"What can I say, annoying you is really easy."

"Can you just get back into your body like a normal person?"

"Well, my body can't wake up now even if I did, so what's the point."

"Right." Tony hesitated before touching the needle to his skin. "I gotta tell you, I don't do this often."

Stephen snorted. "What, play nurse to a wounded magician you found accidentally with poor luck?" Upon seeing Tony's pursed unimpressed lips, he caved. "Okay, I won't joke about it."

"I'm.. I'm good at fixing machines but this- I don't do well with- _humans_." Tony drew back from Stephen's skin. "You know what, maybe we should just- get some help. Call Christine. Yeah, that's-"

  
Tony felt a light weight on his shoulders as the Cloak decided to hug him from behind. Tony took it as an encouraging gesture and it really made him surprised, coming from the same artifact who used to dislike him so much. 

"Okay." He took a deep breath. "Okay, let's fix your idiot of a friend, shall we?" The Cloak nodded, clearly siding with Tony on this one. 

"I literally can not watch you two team up too because that'd be the end of me." Stephen groaned. 

"This is gonna hurt like a bitch." Tony mumbled. 

And he did it. After a whole lot of panicked moments and internal freak outs, Tony managed to sew the wound shut. Admittedly, it didn't look that good, but Tony thought he did a great job considering all things.

He slumped back and exhaled loudly.

Stephen's ghost like form was still watching him carefully. This was all kinds of freaky. 

"Did you really think I died and became a ghost earlier?"

_Almost, yes._ "No," Tony grimaced. His only thought had been something exactly along that line, considering he knew about Stephen's voodoo-ing habit and all. But what else were you supposed to think? It terrified the crap out of Tony. Not the ghosty appearance of Stephen, no, but the possibility it bore that Stephen might've been dead or dying.

  
"You inconsiderate, stubborn complete ass of a wizard!" Tony flared. He had been pushing his emotions back and controlling himself for the sake of doing the job that had to be done first, but now, it was like everything was coming out on the surface at once. 

"I can't believe you! You just what, casually float out of your fucking injured body and decide to pop by and greet me like it's no big deal? I have a heart condition and I nearly lost it when I saw you here like- like _this_!"

He wildly gestured at the body before him that in no way, looked to be in good condition to anyone who'd set his eyes upon it.

"I'm sorry, that wasn't really-" Stephen started sincerely but Tony wasn't finished. 

"And then you're like, _oh cool, just leave me here to die-_ like this doesn't even matter to me! You can't do everything alone. Stop trying to do everything alone!"

_But I am alone._ Stephen wanted to say, but didn't. 

Tony ran a hand through his hair, messing it up. "This is not the first time this happened, is it?" _Not the first time you've gone through this alone?_

Stephen shrugged. "I can't go knock on someone's door to patch me up every other day. Christine helps me enough as it is. When things get- out of my hand."

"And what if you can't get to Christine in time when it's too bad? What if you miscalculate? Someone, like me or Pete- has to stumble in here and find your- body?" Tony gritted his teeth. He was never too good with feelings. 

Stephen didn't reply. He just calmly hovered before Tony, watching him, waiting for his initial emotions to simmer down. 

"What happened? Who did you piss off this time?" Tony's voice quieted down to an indifferent one as he poured down some antiseptic onto a cottonball and diverted his attention to the cut on Stephen's forehead. 

"A couple of inter dimensional anomalies. Which... kind of led me to their nest and, well, they weren't exactly pleased by my unannounced arrival." Stephen replied. "Tried to spear me in half but I guess that didn't completely work out in their favour. They're not good at aiming."

"Fortunately." Tony muttered to himself darkly. "And what's up with the whole Dr Mcghosty thing you've got going over here?"

  
Stephen looked down at his half formed projection. "This, is my astral body. The fight drained too much of my energy so my physical body needs time to yet regain it. But it doesn't affect my astral projection at any rate. So... I kind of forgot I didn't tell you about this before."

Tony looked on curiously. "And what happens if your actual body- you know, doesn't function anymore? Will you just stay like that forever?"

"You mean if my body as in, I die?" Stephen stated bluntly, making Tony flinch at the indifference. "No, there is no coming back once death strikes." Stephen's mind flashed to the very last moments he had with his mentor. 

_Death is what gives life meaning._

  
"Okay, Casper. Just- don't scare me like that again."

"With astral projection or with my half dead body?"

Tony pursed his lips, staring at said unmoving body. "Yes."

"No promises."

_I know_. Tony closed his eyes. _I know and that scares me so much._

"Why were you here? Did you have something to say?" Stephen asked suddenly, after a while.

Tony slowly shook his head. "Doesn't matter right now. Later."

"You don't have to sit and stare at me, you know." Stephen fidgeted in his astral body.

Tony looked up from his bruised face to his clear transparent one. "Yes, I do."

 

                                       ***

 

  
Tony awoke to a confusing but familiar flutter onto his closed eyelids. 

He stirred slowly and promptly groaned because damnit his back was unimaginably sore. 

_Why the hell did he think falling asleep sitting on the floor was a good idea?_

The first thing he registered was something flickering right in front of his eyes. He focused onto the gold and blue blur and smiled hazily at the butterfly he met earlier today. 

The second discovery was rather unexpected as he found his hand intertwined with another one. His eyes followed to where his left hand grasped a gloved hand like a lifeline. He slightly lifted his head and _remembered_.

  
He had been sitting on the floor beside the couch where Stephen had been still unconscious, waiting for him to wake up but then fell asleep himself. 

Which partly explained why he found his head lying on Stephen's chest right now even though he didn't remember doing that or grabbing his hand in his sleep. _Must've been an instinct._

The astral form of Stephen was nowhere to be seen, hopefully back in his own body because now, Tony could _watch_. 

He'd never get to watch Stephen this closely.

He settled his chin just onto Stephen's chest and took in every curve, every inch of the sorcerer's face, drinking in the beauty as much as he could with his eyes. Even bruised, he looked ethereal. 

He lightly traced the sharp cheekbones and the angular jaw with his right hand, smiling when his fingers reached the charming facial hair, not loosening the grip of his other hand within Stephen's. The cut on his cheek stood out prominently on his pale complexion and Tony caressed it gently with his thumb.

  
_He is so beautiful I could spend the rest of my life here, with him, like this._

  
This man did something inexplicable to Tony. Because he had never felt like this. _Ever_. Even when he thought he was hopelessly in love with Pepper. It was terrifying- what Stephen managed to do just by being around. Tony couldn't understand. He hoped, but he couldn't _try_. 

He had been so entranced and busy at staring, he just wanted to get lost in the blue gray of Stephen's eyes- 

_Wait a minute-_

"Hi." Stephen whispered. 

"Hi." Tony breathed almost on autopilot. 

"Thank you. For staying." Stephen was now staring at him too, _okay what do we do? Jarvis? Friday?_

"Couldn't leave if I wanted to." Tony watched as Stephen's eyes glittered and his breath stuttered. 

"Your eyes." Tony once again found himself talking out of his control. "They keep changing colours."

Stephen glanced down at their entwined hands and lingered dazedly. "Yeah.. It's sectoral heterochromia. Got it from my Mom."

"They're beautiful." Tony mumbled. "So beautiful." 

Stephen's eyes found his again and they forgot the rest of the world. Until, Tony blinked a couple of times and shot up, well, tried to, at least. He swore loudly as the abrupt movement didn't do wonders for his sore back. 

"You okay there, old man?" Apparently Stephen recovered faster from intense stare sessions. 

Tony glared. "You're the one with a hole in your stomach so I'd say yes."

"Touché." He winced but managed to sit up, Tony reaching out but then retracting suddenly feeling overwhelmed. 

"We need to come to an agreement. You will stop pulling this kind of nonsense you did today and will notify me or Wong or Christine, hell even the grumpy wizard who hates you- _anyone_ , when you're hurt and I don't tell Pete what you did today." Tony stated. 

Stephen tried to raise his eyebrows but the bandage Tony had placed on his forehead got in the way. "What kind of a stupid agreement is that?"

"Think about it. If Peter finds out, he's gonna be very upset. And he's never going to leave you alone if he thinks you might take flight. Even when you're going on a dangerous mission, he'll want in because he won't trust you to take care of yourself. You choose."

Tony knew he would win. Peter's safety would get either of them away with anything.

"So, deal?'

"Fine. Deal. You play dirty by the way. You're the most irresponsible about yourself." Stephen grumbled and Tony smirked triumphantly. He noticed the butterflies once again, circling around his head.

"Hey I love these guys! Where did they come from?" He smiled, eyes following them around. 

_From us_. Stephen stared at Tony instead of the butterflies. "Oh they just pop up now and then." He remarked offhandedly. 

Tony frowned but before he could say something, a piece of paper flashed into midair right in front of Stephen and after Stephen was done reading it, it promptly went up in a puff of smoke. 

"What the hell was that?"

"A fire message. I need to go to Kamar-Taj." Stephen glanced down. "You might want to let me go unless you'd rather be stuck with me willingly."

Tony followed his gaze and realized even though they had moved away from each other, they never did leave each other's hand. Tony had the urge to hold it down even more tightly but he untangled his fingers from Stephen's. 

"This doesn't mean you can go there right now. You're injured!" Tony scrambled up after Stephen's graceful rise.

"I have all my limbs, Stark. I'm plenty okay." He started moving around, making Tony fume after him. "Besides, I got a class to teach."

"Whoa. Hold on a second." Tony exclaimed. "A class? That's what this is about? Well, you can take a leave today."

"No, I can't. It's my duty." Stephen downed a rather nasty looking potion from the desk while Tony made a disgusted face at it. 

"Fine. Then I'll be the substitute teacher for today. You can watch from the sidelines." Tony reasoned. 

"It's a mystic defense class, not a "how to build a weapon from sand itself to kick ass" class."

Tony squinted at his back, following after him out of the room. "That almost sounded like a complement for my superb geniusness. And fyi, I'm highly trained in martial arts and Natasha's been teaching me these killer new moves. I can show them defense. They'll love me."

"I see you've been picking up on Peter's speech pattern." Stephen remarked. 

"I see you've not been taking me seriously. _Seriously_ , I'm going." 

"It's unnecessary."

"It's absolutely not."

"Yes it is."

"It is most-"

"What are we arguing about today?"

"What the fu- Gah!" Tony did a double take. "Kid, what're you doing here?"

Peter beamed brightly from the other side of the kitchen counter and oh, Tony hadn't even noticed he had followed Stephen into the kitchen.

"Hello, Peter." Stephen ruffled Peter's hair and passed him to get to the Cloak which met it's owner halfway, snuggling upto him

"Hey guys! I've been here for an hour but you guys were sleeping so didn't wanna disturb you." The kid grinned wider than usual and Tony didn't feel comfortable with that. Something was cooking in that mischievous brain. 

"Did you know he was here?" He asked Stephen.

"I know whenever anyone's here." Stephen leaned over a kettle on the stove. "However, I did not know about this. What are you doing?"

Peter jumped excitedly. "I- _We_ were making you tea because you love it so much." The Cloak nodded enthusiastically, ensuring it's involvement. 

Tony peeked into the kettle. "And what did you make me?"

Peter tilted his head. "Tea?" 

Tony sighed dramatically. "I work so hard for them but no one cares about me in this house."

Peter got distracted by inspecting the cuts on Stephen's face. "Are you okay? This one doesn't look good." He poked the air infront of Stephen's forehead. 

"Yeah, it was nothing." Stephen flipped a glance at Tony. "Mr Stark here nursed me back to health.

Peter grinned that crazy grin at them again and Tony narrowed his eyes at the kid. 

"You, stay away from fire. I don't trust you anymore than myself inside a kitchen. Which is zero percent." He pointed at Peter. "We're going to Strange's magic school to teach stuff."

" _We_ 're not."

Peter raised his hand excitedly. "Ooh, can I come too?"

"Yes, you can." Tony said, then stopped and turned to Stephen. "Wait, this place isn't dangerous, is it?"

Stephen started impatiently. "Of course not. It's the haven of all sorcero-"

"Yes, you can." Tony repeated to Peter. 

"Awesome!"

"I did _not_ agree to this." Stephen sighed.

  
                                    ~~

  
Wong took one look at a vibrating with joy Peter and deadpanned. "It's not 'bring your kid to work' day." 

Peter beamed. "Mr Wong, sir! I promise I will not bother you at all and will not repeat the mistake like last time."

"What did you do last time?" Tony strolled in behind them. "I keep smelling honey everywhere. Do you people bathe in it?"

"He broke Wong's favourite vase trying to show him the moonwalk." Stephen notified him. 

Wong just blinked at Tony, then raised an eyebrow at Stephen before shrugging and turning back to his books. 

"Hey, Wong-sie! Miss me?" Tony leaned over his shoulder to look at the book. "What's the deal with that picture? That guy has a dozen more heads than it should be legal."

"Maybe he encountered some dumbass who gave him headaches unbearable for one head." Wong said. "Like Stephen."

"This is why I like you so much, Wong-sie."

"The feeling is absolutely not mutual." Wong said, without any real bite into it. 

"Perfect."

Stephen rolled his eyes. " _Perfect_."

Peter went off to 'survey' the entirety of Kamar Taj and Cloaky trailed behind him enthusiastically. Stephen was sure he'd have to deal with some broken rules _and_ things by the end of the day. Tony fell in love with Kamar-Taj's library and decided he needed to live in it. And also, he was right. Stephen's class did love him. 

Everyone kept whispering who the teenager Doctor Strange brought with him was but once they realized Tony Stark was there as well, they all became wildly curious. After all, everyone knew he was a man of science.

  
Stephen's class seemed content to leave the mystic part of their class alone for a day and was fairly impressed by Tony's martial arts skills. A lot of people forget that Iron Man _is_ him, _he_ is the one fighting out there, not just some armour. Of course, he was skilled. 

Stephen watched Tony face off against the best student of his class, Casey Kinmont, with sheer fascination. His reflexes were way too good and he moved fast and quick, making it even difficult for the opponent to land a hit on him. Not to mention the graceful moves he was asserting to, Natasha really taught him well. 

Casey ducked a well aimed kick meant for her shoulder and panted. "You're not bad, for an old man."

Never putting his guard down for one second, Tony moved to another stance. "Watch it. I'm still too perfect to kick major ass and too pretty to bag anyone you point to."

Moving forward in a flash, Casey threw another punch at Tony but the latter quickly caught it and twisted her arms behind her just as fast. "I'd have thought you'd be all too content bagging our dearest teacher himself, Mr Stark." 

Tony's grip faltered at the statement and Casey took the chance to elbow him in the stomach and got out instantly. "Got you, didn't I? He has never brought anyone here before. I didn't even know he _had_ a boyfriend. Let alone it'd be _you_."

Tony glanced out of the arena where Stephen seemed to be gazing intently at them, but well out of earshot. "My dear, that's because he doesn't. There has been absolutely no bagging at all." 

He moved and swiped at Casey's legs, making her fall down. "Ow. Such a shame. You two certainly act like it."

Tony trapped her down unmovably and ended the fight. "Such a shame you had to lose to an old man."

The crowd of students  watching around them clapped and cheered. They were all of various ages but they all seemed to like Tony very much. 

  
"Wohooo! You go, Dad!" 

They both turned to a cheering Peter who had appeared beside Stephen and was currently waving one of the sticks meant for training. 

"That boy is your son? He's adorable!" Casey smiled and waved back. 

"Yeah. He is." Tony smiled at the two people who hadn't only become a part of his life, but something more he couldn't imagine living without now.

 

Meanwhile, Wong and Peter were having a field day teasing Stephen. 

"Careful there, you wouldn't want your students to catch you drooling over their substitute teacher. Scandalous material." 

Stephen nearly bit his own tongue off. "Go away, Wong."

Wong sat down beside him. "Dear lord, you didn't even try to deny. How far gone are you by the way? Update."

_Tony in that Metallica shirt with rolled up sleeves and those perfectly accentuated trousers. Sweat dripping off his forehead and the fluffy hair. Fuck._ "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Are we talking about Mr Stark? He's so badass oh my _god_ , did you see that backwards duck and attack thing he did there? That was _epic_." Peter decided to drop down finally instead of jumping up and down endlessly.  

Stephen sure did, and by the vishanti, it was like a tease for him. He just wanted to go over there and replace Casey right this moment but that'd be beside the point of him being injured and unable to train them today.

  
When Tony dismissed the class and came back all sweaty and heaving and looking like a goddamn sexy walking sin itself, whom he'd very much like to devour right about now, Stephen decided he needed to take a walk. 

"Peter wants to go visit the marketplace outside." He declared. 

"I do?" Peter asked quizzically. 

"They have wonderful snacks. I'll let you have the cotton candy too." 

"Yes, I do!" Peter confirmed immediately. 

Tony shot the two a weird look, Wong snorting beside them in amusement.

"Alright, just give me a damn moment. So, how did I do?" He spread his hands and grinned. 

"Amazing! You were on fire! Can you please train me in martial arts from tomorrow, _please_ , Mr Stark?" Peter gazed hopefully at him. 

Tony wondered how the kid flipped back and forth between ' _Dad_ ' and ' _Mr Stark_ '. "Yeah, we'll work it out, kid. May asked me to train you some time anyways."

"Yess!"

"I guess being tiny doesn't stop you from kicking ass. You did pretty well." Stephen nonchalantly said, as if the sight of the guy wasn't making him hot all over. 

"You call me tiny one more time and you're losing the kneecaps." 

"I'd like to see you try."

"I did invite you over for just that but you're the one who never shows up. Scared, Doctor?" Tony smirked. 

"Busy. But you can put me down on your schedule to getting your ass handed to you soon. I'll be there."

"You're just jelly that your class loves me more than you! Ha!"

"Jelly? Really?"

"God, they're doing it again." Wong grumbled and stalked away muttering to himself and Peter hastily stowed away the camera on his neck as the two adults turned their attention to him. 

"So... Cotton candy?" He smiled innocently.

  
                                     ***

 

  
It'd been more than two weeks. Exactly 16 days since their trip to Kamar-Taj and the last time Tony saw Stephen but who was counting, right? 

Tony was. 

It was becoming quite unbearable now that over the last few months, Tony had grown accustomed to meeting Stephen one way or another every two days. But that was just how it was to become too attached to a master of the mystic arts. He had to go away for who knows what goddamn thing. 

 

_"A council meeting." Stephen repeated. "I think they'll assign us each some missions. Earth is at the risk of being attacked by a lot of entities currently. We can not afford to wait for them to strike first."_

_Tony bristled at the other end of the phone. "Well, can't you just come and pick me up to whatever mission you get assigned to? I am a professional and we can take out a whole lot of those guys if we work together."_

  
_"That is not how the council works, Tony." Stephen paused. "I can't include you in all my fights. We are completely different. Besides, Earth needs Iron Man to defend her. You're the one we're leaving her with."_

  
_"Earth has other Avengers to defend her." Tony reasoned._

_"Yes, but you're the best one." Stephen said softly._

_"You're biased." Tony was maybe, a little bit flustered._

_"Maybe. But that is not why I called."_

_"Oh? You didn't call to tell me that you're getting sent off to another part of the universe to fight monsters for an indefinite period of time?" Tony said in a bitter tone._

_"No. I called because you forgot something here. One looks suspiciously like food to me. Was that intentional?"_

_"Yes, dumbass. Both are for you. Open the other one." Tony had left the two bags on Stephen's living room that morning and forgot about it between all the mess._

_There was a rustle of Stephen fumbling with the package and then a blunt, "It's a phone."_

_"Wow, be a little less delighted, why don't you." Tony responded dryly._

_"Why did you leave me a phone? You can't possibly-"_

_"Yes, I can." He stressed. "I can finish making a whole armour by the time you return my texts with that god awful contraption of yours that doesn't even have a 'speech to text' feature! I can't possibly endure that blasphemy anymore. And Peter keeps complaining that you call him instead of texting back and no one calls anymore. So I really did it for us."_

_It was hard for Stephen to text using his phone and Tony knew that._

_Stephen kept reasoning. "But it looks expensive. You know my job. I can't fight with a phone that costs more than my entire existence."_

_Tony made an offended noise. "Throw that to a wall as many times as you want and see if it even cracks. You're forgetting that I make those. Pete has one of those as well. That boy drops his phone two dozen times a day."_

_Stephen must've turned the phone on because Tony heard the familiar voice of Friday smoothly greet Stephen._

_"_ _Oh. Hello, Friday. Tony, your AI is here." Stephen mused._

_"Yeah... I just put her on for.. Safety? She can help you anytime you need. You can just, you know, disable her from your phone if you want to." He added hastily._

_"No, no. It's.. Okay. Thank you." Tony's anxiety disappeared at those words. Stephen_ _liked it._

 

_"Good. Because the point of this is, you have to reply to my texts from now on."_

 

And that was exactly the night 15 days ago. 

Stephen did keep in contact for a few days but then even Friday couldn't pinpoint his exact location in another dimension and he went radio silent. Tony probably texted him a thousand times. Just tiny little things about his days. No response.

  
' _You missed the Halloween party.' -TS_

_'It was fun. Pete sent you pictures. Did you get them?' -TS_

It sucked.

  
"Do you think he's okay?"

"Huh?"

Tony had forgotten he was sitting on the kitchen table, having been dragged by Natasha and Peter to eat something. 

"Stephen." Peter spoke quietly, his eyes fixed at his cereal bowl, stirring distractedly. "There's no trace of him. Do you think he's..in trouble?"

A shudder went through Tony at the thought.

_No_. 

"He's powerful. And I'm sure they didn't send him in alone." Tony's voice was uncertain. _That's exactly what I'm afraid of. Him being lost out there all alone..._

"I miss him." Peter sighed. "Why couldn't it be somewhere we can go?"

Why couldn't it be somewhere Tony could follow him? 

_'Don't go where I can't follow you.' -TS_

_'I know you have to. But tell me a way how to get to you.' -TS_

  
Natasha who'd been silently perching on the counter with her own coffee, observed the two with an impassive face. She knew about their close relationship to the Doctor and she even met him a handful of times whenever he was on the compound for a visit. What she was worried about was Tony. 

She _knew_ Tony. And she also knew the signs. Signs Tony was showing. She'd seen this before. With Pepper. But never this intensely. Tony was going down another road with his heart in his hands again and she was worried if he lost it this time, he'd never be whole again.

  
"Vision left a note on the fridge. Saying he's going out to "appreciate the nature"." She said lightly. 

Tony looked grateful for the change of topic. "They grow up so fast. He was born just the other day. And now he's already sowing his seeds."

Peter choked on his cereal. "Oh my god! I did not need to hear that about him! He's so innocent!"

Tony clapped Peter's back. "Chill, kid. Innocence has nothing to do with it. I gotta worry about your turn one of these days. Safety is always first-"

"Can you _please_ not? Like, _ever_? Or at least not right now? I'm trying to eat!" Peter looked and sounded mortified, red upto his roots. 

"Ah, Peter. You better come to me for advices because Tony's playboy facade was all just an act, you know. He's a hopeless romantic." Natasha said, with the faintest hint of smirk. 

"Another thing i didn't need to know-"

"I am not! Just because you didn't know me at my pre-Pepper days-"

"Oh but I know you. And you're forgetting reading people is a part of my profession-"

  
An all too familiar alert went off and a hologram popped up before them, marking the source of disruption in a red circle and Peter was instantly out of his chair, thankful for the interruption. 

"Oh thank god! Let's go teach some- Karen, who's attacking Brooklyn?"

"My data sources recognize him as Ezekiel Stane." 

The name itself was enough to put Tony and Natasha high on alert. 

"He's out there? In Brooklyn?" Tony asked, armour already forming around him.

 

Ezekiel Stane, Obadiah's son, had been responsible for a handful of bombings all around the state, all claiming to be in order to get revenge against Tony. They were all trying to shut him down for weeks but he was incredibly smart. This was the first time he had shown up on the radar himself. 

"Fri, try to get to Vision. Send in the Iron Legion and get the people away. Nat, want a lift?" 

"Would be great." Natasha shoved more and more weapons in her suit. Tony stopped asking how she did it way long ago. 

"I can just swing along with you guys. Let's go!" Peter attempted to jump through the window before Tony grabbed him by the shoulders.

"Oh no, no. If this is him, he's dangerous. He killed hundreds of people and you can't-"

"Which is why you need more backup. There's just the two of you! Even Hope is in California to find her Mom! I _need_ to go with you!" Peter rushed on with urgency. 

_I don't want to put you in risk._ "Fine. But you listen to me at any rate. If I tell you to get out, you get out."

"Yes. Okay. I will!"

  
It wasn't pretty. Ezekiel had managed to create a bunch of high tech robots which were currently wrecking havoc on the streets. 

Tony tracked down Ezekiel himself, leaving Natasha and Peter to work on the robots. 

"Hi Zeke. I see you've found yourself quite an unsavory hobby." 

Ezekiel laughed, with his dark hair and mad, unfocused eyes.

"Not a hobby. Obsession. Obsession to end you, Tony Stark." 

"Call off your bots and we can settle this peacefully. You've already taken too many lives. I'm not letting you take anymore." Tony warned him. 

"I only have to take one more." And then he lunged at Tony, firing a ray from the gaunlets in his hands which Tony stopped with ease.

This guy was smart, but nothing authentic. This would end fast. 

The fight lasted longer than expected. Ezekiel seemed to predict Tony's every move, fighting toe to toe with him but once Tony changed a single pattern, he began to falter. All survellized data. But he managed to place a well aimed blow at Tony's chest plate, tearing some pieces of it away in the process.

"Power at 25%. Boss, the flight option won't hold for much longer."

"We won't take very long." He narrowly missed another of the robots sneaking up on him. "One day later and we'd be playing with Mark 50 ugh."

What unsettled him slightly was the fact that the man didn't stop grinning like insane even when Tony struck him down, incapacitated, pointing his repulser rays at him. 

  
"Nat, status report."

"We're almost done." Natasha's voice heaved. "You got him?"

"Yeah. He looks like he's gone kaboom. Spidey?" Tony waited batedly to hear Peter's voice. 

"I'm good, Mr Stark! Whoo, take that, you ugly shitty piece of tech! Yeet!" Peter said through the comms. 

"You misunderstand me, Stark." Ezekiel said with his manic grin. "There is a difference between a hobby and an obsession. And I know _everything_ about you. I know how to destroy you." 

The unsettling feeling inside Tony grew for some reason. "Fri, check the buildings. Did he-"

"By destroying them."

An explosion just a few feet away from them blew Tony off of his feet, sending him flying. He restabilized the thrusters barely in time before crashing in through a wall.

  
"The robots! They have unidentifiable explosives inside. Peter! Get away from the bots!" He yelled into the comms. 

There was no sound through the comms. No acknowledgement. 

"PETER! Nat, do you copy?" Tony panicked, soaring in through the streets, looking for them. "Shit! Friday locate them!"

"He knows to how to jam our signal, boss. The comms are dead. Rebooting in 3 minutes."

_Too long_. 

Another explosion sounded and Tony instantly zoomed in towards that way, spotting a sprinting redhead. She wouldn't be able outrun the explosions in time.

Natasha's hand was grabbed and she was lifted up just as the robot lying near her feet blew up, taking the nearest building down with it.

"Peter? Did you see him?" Tony demanded, dropping her onto a clear patch.

Natasha bended over, breathing heavily. "He took on four of those at the 84th. Just before the comms went out."

Tony took off. 

_He doesn't know those things are gonna explode._

_His suit isn't a metal one, he won't-_

_He's just a kid._

_He's my kid._

"Flight powers are going out boss."

  
The hit on his chest plate was rapidly shutting everything down. Tony didn't even notice half of his armour from the abdomen was missing the pieces. 

He spotted a red blur, swinging around the last of the robots to disable it. 

_Please just a little faster._

"Put everything you've got on the thrusters."

Peter seemed to notice Tony zooming in at full speed at him because he paused, and the robot's long arm shot up taking the chance, hitting Peter's wrist. 

At that very moment, Tony swept Peter up with him and they got away as far as they could before Iron Man's thrusters went off and they stumbled down onto the ground between a couple of high rise buildings.

  
"This has been a shitty day. Fri, we're implementing the Mark 50 _tonight_."

"Mr Stark! I was taking it down! Why did you-"

Another explosion. 

"That." Tony couldn't tell how much relieved he was right now. _I got him. I got to him in time_. 

"The psycho caught me off guard, I gotta give him that. Inventing a jammer like that, huh. Pretty sure hit me with a power draining microchip. What happened to your webshooters?" Tony noticed the broken devices in Peter's wrist. 

Peter looked down abashedly. "Oh. Got hit. What happened to your suit?"

"Got hit good." Tony glanced at the exposed parts of his abdomen. "Great. Now I can't fly. You can't swing. Guess we're taking the subway."

"Is Miss Black Widow okay-"

"Yeah I got-"

 

Something broke with an ear-splitting noise. 

The ground rattled. 

The buildings tumbled down.

"PETER! GO!"

 

"Oh no... no..  _NO_!"

 

~~

_'I miss you.' -TS_

_'Peter misses you. Dum-E misses his new buddy. At least update Wong if you're alive. He'll be pissed if you die.' -TS_

_'We're going to get ice cream with Peter once you're back.' -TS_

_'Why did we ever find you?' -TS_

 

  
In a corner of the multiverse, far away from this dimension, Stephen Strange gasped as an indescribably horrible pain and utter despair ripped through his whole body. And he fell.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Something happened. 
> 
> Someone's dying. 
> 
> But who is it? 
> 
>  
> 
> Some thingies:  
> # Benedict has Sectoral Heterochromia that makes his eyes change between green, gray and blue depending on the light.  
> # Casey Kinmont was Stephen's apprentice in a comic and I needed one so.   
> # I made the phone call in the end in italics coz its like a flashback so.. Sorry if it's annoying. 
> 
>  
> 
> DID I TELL YOU THAT I LOVE YOU GUYS?   
> thank you all for reading and to those who are still with me since the beginning, a million kudos to YOU. 
> 
> LEAVING COMMENTS MAKE ME READ THEM AND CRY OF JOY BECAUSE YOU ALL MAKE ME HAPPY.


	11. Time or Soul?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Damn, so much foreshadowing in this one. 
> 
> There are some mystical travelling around, I hope you get them. It's so much more perfect to think it out than actually writing it. Whew.

 

A crash. 

A muffled scream. 

Numbness. 

Panic. Realization. 

_Desperation_. 

Stephen heaved as he _felt_. 

"Strange! What in the Vishanti-?" 

"I need to go." Stephen shuddered and came back to himself.

Darius, the sorceror accompanying Stephen, looked over his shoulders and crouched behind the huge rocks Stephen had collapsed behind. "What are you talking about? We're on a mission!'

"I need to go." Stephen repeated, a lot more frantically. "Cast the spell. There is no time."

Because of course they were on a continuously shifting dimension that was too difficult for one sorceror to get into or out all alone. Both of them had to cast the spell together to breach the barriers. 

"I can't do that. We've finally found Blackheart and if we don't engage him now-"

"The council will send someone else. Do it, _now_ , I need to be there-" Stephen drew back his hands, already drawing sigils to activate the spell. 

Darius was not listening. "The council made a decision and it was you. You cannot leave the job. You'll be punished-"

"I don't care!" Stephen snapped, his rage making the sparks on his hand flare and increase. "You don't understand. It's my family!"

Darius let out a mocking laugh. "Family? You don't have a family, Strange. We can't _afford_ to have a family in this job."

Stephen tried to break the barrier of the dimension on his own but no, his magic fizzled and then burnt out because they needed two energy signatures casting it together -

"Is this about that ridiculous kid and the billionaire asshole you've been hanging out with? No wonder you-"

Darius didn't get to finish that sentence because he was slammed against one of the tall pillars of rocks surrounding them with immense mystic force. Stephen strode forward, grabbing him by collars and growling right at his face. 

" _Don't you dare_." He grinded his teeth. "You know _nothing_. So don't you dare. The spell. _NOW_!"

He dropped the guy who raised his hand and drew his part of the sigils. Stephen instantly added his own and a portal out of there appeared before them. 

"You're not fit to be a Master! You're too weak! Too sentimental! You don't deserve to be one of us!" Darius bellowed after a Stephen who had already stepped through the portal and disappeared.

  
And appeared onto a street full of chaos. Sirens. Blackened debris. 

And devastation. 

He didn't have to reach there to know.

He knew who it was. 

He could feel it. And it was not-

"Peter." 

The boy who sat there, crying hysterically, clinging to a body in the midst of the ruins of a monument, was in no state to register Stephen's voice. 

"No no.. you see, I-I've..I've seen you walk off freaking missiles aimed at-at- at you. Thi- this is nothing, right?" Peter hiccuped, his head touching the body's chest, cheeks stained with tears. "Please, Dad, _no_."

Stephen kneeled down at the opposite of Peter and stared. 

Stared at the too still body of Tony Stark, someone who would never stop moving because staying still had always been agonizing for him. His long lashes were touching his cheeks but there was no movement behind his eyelids. There was none of the raw static energy that always seemed to follow Tony everywhere he went.

Stephen knew. There was no beating. 

He had to move. Do it. _Now_. _Please give me the strength to move._

_This is not the time to shut down._

_There is no time._

The Cloak seemed to stop contemplating whom to comfort and took off towards a distressed Peter, sensing Stephen had a job to do. Peter snapped his head up at once at the familiar touch of the fabric around him and cried out.

"Stephen! He-he- I don't know what- what's wrong. Wh- why is he-" Peter desperately clawed at Stephen's arms. "Do something. S-Stephen. He can't leave me. He can't! _No_."

Stephen only whispered. "He won't. I won't let him leave."

He pulled away his gloves, interlaced his fingers with Tony's limp ones and closed his eyes. 

Everything vanished from around them. 

Time stood still. 

_Silence_.

  
Stephen was in a dimly lit place that was surrounded by stars. The sliver stars glittered on the backdrop of dark blue space. It was like being in the front seat of a spaceship, heading towards the unknown. A beautiful unknown. 

He found Tony watching the vast space before him, facing the seemingly endless window. 

"I've always loved it, you know." Tony spoke quietly once Stephen stepped up beside him, not glancing his way though. "Before."

"Space?" Stephen ran his eyes all over the man lit up by the blueish hue of the scene beyond the window. The man whom he had seen pale and bloodied at the clutches of death just a minute ago. 

Tony hummed. "The stars. Ana used to love teaching me about them. She always said that one day, I will reach the stars and go beyond because I was too bright for the earth alone." He chuckled. "I was small and it was a big deal for me."

"You still are." Stephen said in a watery voice. "Tony."

Tony sighed. "What are we doing here, Stephen?"

Stephen looked out the window. "I don't know... I followed you out here, I guess."

"I'm dead." Tony stated, with no wavers in his voice. 

Stephen had to bite his bottom lip to stop himself from screaming out. "No. You're well on your way though, and I'm not letting you reach that destination. Not yet."

"It's not upto you." Tony dismissed. "If it's my time, even you can't stop me."

Stephen reached out desperately, grabbing Tony by his arms and turning him to face himself. "I _know_ it is not your time. There's- there's so much left to do! This is _not_ how the story ends!"

Tony smiled. It was the kind of serene smile that only someone truly at peace could manage to conjure. He outstretched a hand towards the solid window that now seemed to had been only air and slipped his hand through it.

"No." Tony tilted his head. "But you know what?" He turned fully, his back facing the vast space, the hand retracted from the window and reached up to lightly caress the sorceror's face.

"Time will always be our greatest curse."

Tony stepped back and disappeared into the blue space, his fingers slipping through Stephen's.

Stephen screamed.

  
He was standing in a park this time. 

He knew this place. They had been here. Together. Not long ago. They had walked and talked and laughed and simply cherished each other's presence in this park that night until the first rays of sun had shone through the trees. Tony had said one day he'd show Stephen the best goddamn sunrise of the planet in a place he knew in Cambodia which was most certainly not from a park. Stephen had never felt happier.

Everything looked the same as that night except now, instead of Tony's charming ranting form beside Stephen, there was his body on the ground, same as it was in the New York street, looking lifeless. 

Stephen let out an anguished cry and dropped down. His hands instantly going for the Eye of Agamotto. He could fix this. He just had to rewind the time and Tony would be alright and Stephen would never have to watch him die-

_It was not there._

_The time stone wasn't there._

"Time." A voice, one Stephen knew all too well, spoke. "Time takes it all, whether you want it to or not."

He whipped around, not leaving Tony's side, but clenching his hands around Tony's on instinct.

The Ancient One stood there, with her hands drawn to her back in her yellow robes and a calm expression on her face. The time stone was floating in front of her, emitting it's usual radiant green glow. 

"Are you going to do it?" She asked, indicating the stone with the slightest nod of her head. 

"I have to. It's why we have the stone. To save lives." Stephen replied. 

"The lives that could be saved. Not lost ones." She took a step forward, eyes on Tony. "Bringing back a person from the dead was never in the approved side of the rule book."

Stephen dropped his own weight down on his ankles and gazed at Tony. "I would do anything. He cannot just - He's the best bet to ensure Earth's safety. Earth needs Iron Man."

"And is that the only reason?" The Ancient One lightly asked. She knew she was not going to get an answer to that. Didn't matter. _She knew._

"It is not a crime, you know. To have someone to keep you sane. For whom you can even do anything insane." She smiled sadly. "But Stephen, you know. You know that the collapse isn't what kills him. It's-"

"-It's his heart." Stephen finished the sentence too quietly. 

"His heart, yes. The irony of fate. The man who has the biggest heart is dying solely because of it. And not for the first time." The Ancient One said.

"Then you know manipulating the time won't do anything. Sooner or later, it will stop. And you can't do anything about it. No matter how many times you turn back the time. This will happen, Stephen. You will be trapped in a loop which will always end with him dying. You will always end up here. Like this. With him."

"No..no." Stephen mumbled, wiping off a trickle of blood from Tony's temple. "Time. We just need- more time. I could help him heal once we're back. We could fix his heart. There are billions of possibilities. Just- we need time."

"Time is an illusion." She watched them closely. "Tampering with it does not stop the inevitable. It only excerpts more price all around in the process. You are a doctor, Stephen. You know his heart is too far gone for a human to fix."

"This is not his time to go!" Stephen felt like he was trapped. "I _know_ it's not! And I'm not going to sit and do nothing! I'm going to try until I get him back."

'He was never yours.'

_The universe says otherwise._

She watched him. Silently. 

"Why are you lying to yourself, Stephen? You know what to do." She stated calmly. "And that does not involve turning back the time."

Something in Stephen broke. He leaned forward, over Tony and whispered in a cracked voice. "No. It- it won't work."

"Why do you think you are in this place? This is where you realized it, is it not? Denying it to yourself will not change what it is, Stephen." Her voice became more impactful, the previous softness gone from it. "Only _you_ can save him. This is the only way Tony Stark lives again."

"He will never want that! He doesn't even know about-" Stephen took a deep breath, trying to think rationally. "I can never lie to him. Omission of a truth is still a great lie."

"You won't have to. He will understand. It's something he's always been good at."

"How are you sure that the time stone will not make any difference?" Stephen asked, even though he had already made up his mind about what to do. 

"Just like you were sure this is not the end of him." She smiled again. "Because you know your story doesn't end here. And after all, I am all but a figment of your own conscience." 

Stephen looked up at her at this and there was no one in the park anymore. It was just the two of them. Stephen and Tony.

He blinked back, trying to clear his glassy eyes and whispered. "You're not going anywhere but home, Tony. And I will make sure of that. After all, I only got myself to lose."

He tightened his hold on Tony's hand and closed his eyes. 

"And for you, I'd lose it anyday."

 

Stephen startled and opened his eyes to find himself back on the New York street. Without glancing anywhere, he drew runes after runes onto their joint hands, placing the last one over Tony's heart.

_And then it began._

 

                                        **

 

Peter Parker felt like his entire life had been turned upside down within a few seconds. 

He was thrown back with a sudden force, landing on his back a few metres away from where now the remnants of a destroyed building came tumbling down. He had been trapped inside the wrecks of one once and he still had nightmares about it. But the last fading syllables from Tony screaming at him to go was still ringing in his ears and-

  
He couldn't see Tony.

He was just beside Peter. 

_He was the one who pushed Peter away._

"Mr Stark!" Peter screamed, feeling like his voice would go out. He attempted to jump forward but it turned out he couldn't. His legs were trapped under several heavy pieces of concretes, pinning him to the ground. He couldn't feel any pain. All that was, it was just numbness. 

He craned his neck, pulling desperately at his legs and tried to find any glimpse of red at the spot the building came down. There had to be at least 7 feets of debris right there and Tony was nowhere to be seen and Peter didn't know what to do.

  
He panicked. 

His mind was too numb. He kept calling for him and looking. But -

Maybe Tony had gotten out of the way in time. He was used to these kind of situations, right? Peter remembered how badly his suit had been damaged and he screamed for him again and tried to focus on his getting his legs out first because the sooner he did that, the sooner he could find Tony and make sure he was okay because _he had to be okay._

The damage seemed to crush some of his bones, he limped his way to where Tony last had been and tried to dig through with all his might, hoping Tony was just gonna pop up from somewhere and smile and say "Hey, kid, what's up?" again and _no, Peter was not strong enough-_

"Peter! Are you okay?!" 

Natasha was by his side, holding him back from jumping into the debris again, looking all over him. 

"No, no- I've got to- Get him! I can't get to him! How do we-" He didn't realize he had been crying. 

"Tony?" Natasha's breath hitched. "He-"

Someone zoomed in and was lasering through the endless layers of concrete before diving down through an opening and Peter couldn't see clearly at first because of the tears in his eyes but he almost collapsed in Natasha's hold once Vision landed by their side with the unmoving form of Iron Man.

He couldn't speak. He had never seen Tony like this and he just dropped down on the ground, not even registering the pain shooting through his own body. 

"Friday, his vitals!" Natasha's voice was shaking. 

"Boss is unresponsive. I've already injected him with epinephrine but his heart is not restarting." Friday sounded strangely mechanical.

"Open the suit, now." Natasha kneeled down. 

"Voice unauthorized." 

Peter couldn't take this anymore. This couldn't be happening. "He's dying Friday! Now open the suit right this moment before I override you!"

"Voice recognition: Peter Parker. Authorization granted." 

_Tony coded his suits to Peter too_. 

Natasha wasted no time and started performing CPR at once. She knew what she was doing, but dammit it was not working. 

Peter had a strange feeling in his stomach. He felt blank. "He's still not breathing."

"Come on, Tony!" Natasha compressed his chest for the umpteenth time, panting. "You're too stubborn for this to get you down. Up. Now."

  
Peter didn't process when they stopped trying or when Natasha sat down still, rubbing Peter's back or when sirens were all around them. He had lost his parents, he had watched his uncle die right infront of him. This was not- can not- be happening. 

He could not lose Tony too. 

His distraught mind didn't acknowledge the sudden lull that fell around them. It was only when the Cloak wrapped itself around him and swiped at his tears, he jerked up and saw _him_. 

_Stephen was back. Stephen had to know how to get him back, right?_

Stephen promised him. He would. 

Stephen looked devasted. Peter watched as he tangled his scarred hands with Tony and closed his eyes. 

-And startlingly opened them the very next moment. But something seemed to change in his demeanor. 

He kept drawing sigils and runes with immense precision and muttering spells underneath his breath. A golden hue started to emerge from between their hands and it only got brighter from then. 

The Cloak pulled Peter away, much to his protest, from Tony's body where the golden magic started forming a circle around the mumbling sorceror and the unbreathing genius. 

"What- what's he doing?" Peter watched with bated breath. Hope shining in his eyes now.

Everything and everyone around them had frozen. Stephen must've had something to do with that.

His spidey senses seemed to get back online as he whipped his head back when another portal formed behind them. This time, it was Wong who stepped out.

"They informed me Stephen was back and he left a sorceror-" Wong stopped, his eyes widening at the scene before him. "What in the name of Hoggoth?!"

"He's healing Mr Stark!" Peter got as close to the golden circle as he could, the Cloak pulling him back if he even came close to touching it. 

"Those are not healing sigils." Wong gritted his teeth. "That unbelievable fool!"

Peter faltered. "What?"

Stephen made a pained noise and doubled over in agony. A new addition of blue started encircling them, adding to the golden. The more brighter the blue started to become, the more Stephen seemed to gasp in crucial, unadulterated pain. 

"What's happening?!" A new fear gripped at Peter's heart. _Please, god, no._

Wong circled the magical field restlessly, flinching every time Stephen would cry out in pain. "He's performing a very ancient form of magic. It's- He had no way of knowing this would work. Why the hell would he do this-"

  
Peter reached out instinctively as Stephen leaned further to his side, barely able to sit up as if the magic was taking everything out of him while Tony still remained the same. Pale, unresponsive and not breathing.

The Cloak gave another tug and moved back a few inches, stopping Peter from touching the golden bubble rippling with magic.

"Why is this happening to Stephen?!" Peter cried out. "Do something! Wong help him!"

Wong shook his head, looking absolutely distressed. "I can't. He can't complete the spell without giving _everything_ he's got. And the spell won't allow me to go near them."

"Does that mean-" Peter trailed off, turning his back to look at the two. Stephen looking worse by the moment, but still not letting go of Tony's hand, continuing on with the process. And suddenly it clicked. 

_Stephen will die if he manages to resurrect Tony._

"No!" Peter shouted. "No- there has to be another way! You have to figure it out! I don't- I don't know how. We can't just let this happen!"

"This spell has a certain requirement, Peter. That is why it is so unreliable." Wong dragged a hand over his face. "If Stephen can get energy from another being, then- then it might work without wringing him completely  dry. But-"

"But what?!" Peter tried to stand up, forgetting his broken leg and gasped but the Cloak floated him up just in time.

"What's the requirement?" He flinched and briefly closed his eyes as another anguished cry from Stephen could be heard.

"It's a spell that involves the connections between souls. No one can cross this circle unless they're bound to the one the spell is being performed to in a way. I do not fall into that category with Stark. I can't help them." Wong said restlessly.

"But I can." Peter realized. "I can cross it!"

Wong instantly disagreed. "No, you don't know that-"

"I do! I love him! I love both of them! And I'm the best bet they've got right now. I know I can help them!" Peter pulled at the Cloak.

"Hey. I know he asked you to keep me safe, but, you need to let me go. To save him. Please, Cloaky." He pleaded softly. 

The Cloak took a moment and seemed to glance inside the magical circle, watching Stephen tether on the edge of living, and nodded, taking Peter straight to the enchantment.

Peter didn't hesitate. He trusted his own emotions for the two of them. They were like a family to him and there was not a single doubt inside of his mind that he loved them and would do anything for them. 

He took a step forward. 

Into the enchantment.

Nothing happened. It was like the magic had accepted him as part of it.

He rushed as fast as he could with one broken leg at Stephen's side, offering him his hand. 

"Stephen. Take my energy." 

Stephen raised his head with utmost difficulty, his voice weak and barely audible. "Peter... no."

Peter stubbornly shook his head. "Please, this is my decision. We're a team, right? All three of us."

Stephen tried to tell him something else but another wave of slivery wispy form emerged from Stephen, making him whimper again. The sliver smokey form floated into Tony's heart and everything became a little more blue, a little brighter. 

Peter grasped Stephen's other hand that wasn't linked to Tony's and it was like a current went through him. 

He watched hazily as now a red glow started emanating from him and it was like watching it all from far away. He could feel himself grow weaker by every second, but his eyes were still settled on Tony, looking for a sign. _Any sign_. Of life. 

He didn't know how long it had been. He didn't feel any pain like Stephen clearly was feeling. Stephen sounded like someone was tearing him up from the insides. 

Suddenly Stephen let go of Peter's hand and leaned his forehead right over Tony's chest, exhaling loudly. The light surrounding them reaching almost to blinding point and then disappearing with a flash.

  
A beat. 

A heartbeat.

Tony Stark gasped for air. 

Stephen Strange had the tiniest hint of smile gracing his lips as he listened to the new found rhythm of the heartbeat before closing his eyes and letting go. 

Peter Parker only had enough energy to let out a relieved 'Mr Stark' before falling unconscious.

 

The world around them came back to life once again.

Only Wong gazed at the three people on the ground together and let himself smile.  

"By the Vishanti, he actually did it."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What did Stephen do? 
> 
> We'll get to know soon. But I'm pretty sure you guys will get it. 
> 
> Also. Darius, get rekt.
> 
> Thank you so much everyone for commenting and leaving kudos ♥ 
> 
> I'm reaaaally exhausted. College is a bitch.


End file.
